Chapter 798
Chapter 798: Skull Island (5)
When I was a kid, I used to catch bugs with my bare hands. I’d press the bug against the wall with my palm, twist my hand to finish it off, then rush to the bathroom to flush it down the toilet and wash my hands. When I got a little older, I started using tissues because it felt gross…… The method isn’t much different this time either. Instead of tissues, I’m using a shield, but the process is essentially the same.
Squeeze.
Press down.
“Ugh……!”
Twist and crush.
Crunch-!
The key is to twist and crush it thoroughly. If you don’t do it right, the bug might escape.
Slide.
As I slowly pulled the shield away from the wall, a half-crushed woman slumped to the ground.
“Fortunately, she’s not dead.”
As I murmured this, Raven scurried over and chimed in.
“She looks like she might die if we leave her like this though?”
“Parav! Come here and use a healing spell.”
Rather than waste money on potions, I called over the clan’s sole religious person to start giving them treatment. Ah, of course, since she might try to escape once she was healed, we bound her thoroughly during the treatment.
After stripping off all her equipment, I tied her hands and feet, turned her over, and pressed my foot lightly on her back to pin her down……
“……”
It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but what could I do? Barbarians pursue true gender equality. No, not just barbarians—this entire world does. Whether man or woman, if you do something wrong, it’s only natural to face the consequences.
“You’re awake.”
As I mutter this looking at the woman lying there seemingly unconscious, she immediately responded.
“…Kill me. This was something I did entirely on my own initiative.”
I was a bit surprised. I didn’t expect her to say something like that immediately after waking up.
Kaislan let out a mocking laugh.
“She seems to think she’s some kind of knight of the Rose Order.”
Anyway, this was an unexpected situation. It wasn’t some highly-brainwashed soldier of the royal army acting this way, but a mere member of a clan.
“Why are you so loyal to Golden Ghost?”
“…Like I said, this was something I did alone.”
“Hah, we’ve got another difficult one here.”
I sighed deeply and asked once more.
“What is Golden Ghost’s goal?”
“As I said before—.”
“Then what was your goal?”
“……Just kill me.”
“What, is Golden Ghost holding your family hostage or something?”
The woman’s shoulders twitched slightly at my question.
‘Wait, I just threw that out there, but it’s true?’
Golden Ghost, what the hell is that bastard up to? I couldn’t tell, but this woman was clearly different from a brainwashed soldier. That means there was room for persuasion.
“Given your reaction to the word ‘family,’ I take it you must owe your clan money as well. If you die, they’ll collect it from your family, and they’ll naturally die from being unable to pay taxes, isn’t that right?”
The woman’s shoulders twitched again at my speculative comment. That made things easier.
“I swear on my name and honor as a warrior. If you speak honestly, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”
“……”
“As soon as we return to the city, I’ll protect your family. If you want, I’m even take them in as my vassals.”
The woman remained silent for a long time, and I waited patiently, giving her time to think.
But……
“…Kill me.”
Her answer was the same as before. I couldn’t understand it at all. With my reputation, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to join me, regardless of how Golden Ghost was threatening her?
‘What the hell did that Golden Ghost bastard do to her to make her like this?’
Fortunately, this woman wasn’t skilled at lying. You could say she was the type whose thoughts were showed clearly on her face. Well, it’s not easy to control your expressions in an extreme situation where you are staring death in the face.
“Is Golden Ghost still on this island?”
Flinch.
“Did Golden Ghost send you to kill us?”
She made no movement.
“Hmm, if that’s not the goal… Then it’s just reconnaissance.”
Flinch.
“I guess he must have thought I didn’t come to this island simply to take down the Skull King.”
Flinch.
“If he noticed, it must have been then……”
“……”
“When I offered to let them enter first in exchange for them handing over Abman Urikfried. That’s probably when he became certain. That we hadn’t come here just to hunt the Skull King. He must’ve been very curious about what it was.”
The woman flinched as if startled by those words, then closed her eyes in resignation. She had effectively closed the door on any further communication……
“Raven.”
“Yes?”
“Block her ears first. So we can talk among ourselves.”
“Yes, just a moment.”
Soon after, Raven cast a spell to prevent our voices from reaching her, and thus our discussion began. When I invited everyone to share their opinions freely, Missha was the first to speak.
“First off, it seems true that she had no intention to harm us. She was probably just trying to find out what we were hiding.”
I agreed with that opinion. Murdering a noble is a serious crime, and it would be nearly impossible to completely silence 90 witnesses.
Even if she had succeeded in harming us, it would have been like tying a massive ticking time bomb around Golden Ghost’s neck.
“He’s a cunning bastard.”
“Without concrete evidence, even if we raise this issue back in the city, Golden Ghost won’t face any punishment.”
“So, what are we going to do with this woman? She seems to have her reasons, but we can’t just let her go out of pity… The Labyrinth isn’t exactly a kind place, is it?”
Well, that’s true. I had no intention of simply letting her go either. Whether she was threatened or whatever, this woman tried to harm us, and from that moment, we bare no moral responsibility to spare her.
Yeah, so……
“Let me borrow that for a moment.”
I borrowed Amelia’s dagger and, in one swift motion, drove it through her heart.
Thrust-!
Ending her life instantly, while she couldn’t hear or see anything.
“…You can remove the sound-blocking magic now.”
This was the only kindness we could offer in the Labyrinth.
***
“So what are we going to do now?”
That question made me think deeply.
“Shouldn’t we obviously go confront them? Secretly following other explorers in the Labyrinth is a serious crime punishable by immediate execution!”
“Would they admit to it even if we did?”
“If they won’t admit it, we should make them admit it!”
Erwen offered an uncharacteristically aggressive opinion, to which Missha carefully objected.
“Still… I think it’d be better to focus on what we came here to do first and deal with them later when we return to the city……”
“…Why?”
“There are 90 of them, nya. It’s too dangerous for us to handle them by ourselves.”
The Guild Master agreed with Missha’s words.
“Indeed… There are such rumors about Golden Ghost. That he keeps his members under control by exploiting their weaknesses and treats them like slaves…… If even half of the rumors are true, they’d be completely different from the clan we encountered on the fifth floor. They’d desperately fight against us for their lives.”
The Guild Master’s words were likely true. In fact, isn’t it true just based on this woman? Despite how many times I opened a path for her survival, in the end she refused to take it.
‘It was the same with Mr. Bear……’
I don’t know what circumstances he’s in, but Mr. Bear never asked me for help either. And now we’re supposed to have an all-out war with a clan of 90 people? There would definitely be casualties, large or small.
But……
‘Still, it bothers me to just ignore them and go about our business until we return to the city……’
As my worries deepened, Amelia offered her opinion.
“I’ll stay behind to keep an eye on them.”
“Huh?”
“They don’t know yet that this woman has been captured by us. They’ll likely just wait for her return. I’ll monitor them, so you all go inside and finish what you have to do.”
“…It could be dangerous.”
“It’s fine. I have this.”
Saying that, Amelia grabbed one of the items from our collected spoils.
No. 16 Ebony Emblem.
When equipped, it provides a significant boost to the wearer’s stealth-related skills. This was why the detection magic at the entrance was useless, and even Beleg didn’t notice the rat bastard that been following us.
‘Certainly, Amelia probably won’t get caught in most situations if she wears this……’
Even so, I hesitated to give my approval, prompting Amelia to approach me.
And……
“Honestly, it doesn’t feel bad to be worried about.”
Amelia then folded her hand over mine.
“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”
“……Uh.”
“Then I’m off.”
Before I could respond, Amelia let go of my hand and disappeared from sight. I couldn’t hear her departing footsteps, but I instinctively knew. She was already running toward the cave’s entrance.
“Huu……”
As I exhaled deeply, staring down the passage opposite to where Amelia had left, I suddenly felt gazes on me.
“……Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Kaislan answered on behalf of the group.
“You’re asking because you really don’t know?”
“……”
“Never mind. We’re not going to worry about it. Just try to keep things like that between the two of you next time. My knees are feeling weak from embarrassment.”
“Knees?”
“…Forget it if you don’t understand.”
This feels a bit unfair.
‘……I mean, I didn’t even do anything.’
I just cherish my comrades.
***
After Amelia left to monitor the Golden Tree Clan, we resumed our exploration that had been on hold for a while. We had deliberately come to this strange place to catch that rat bastard…… But in truth, the entrance was nearby.
“……Is this the entrance? It doesn’t look any different though?”
After passing a fork and following a short passage, we arrived at a dead end. However, there is one difference from where we were before.
‘The difference is that there are 44 torches attached to the passage.’
Like the first floor Crystal Cave, the detailed structure of Skull Island’s cave changes each time, but one thing remains the same. The entrance to the next stage is where there are 44 torches attached to the passage. Well, you still need to meet the earlier conditions to open the entrance.
Anyway.
“Adnus, go touch it.”
As I sent the Guild Master, who had been playing an important role(?) throughout this labyrinth exploration, to the wall, the wall slid to the side with a subtle vibration. And at the same time.
[The Cursed One has discovered the Memory of the End. A piece of the ancient tale has been completed.]
The portal that had been hidden behind it began to shimmer and revealed itself. A blood-red portal, clearly different than typical blue-based color from the portal stones.
Whoooong-!
I steadied my breathing as I gazed at the portal.
‘So we’ve finally made it here.’
Honestly, even after planning everything and making it this far, I was a bit hesitant to enter.
But……
‘Well, what can you do.’
We had to go in. There are three graduation essences in there that I can feed to my comrades.
[You have entered the Memory of the End.]
I wonder how many we can get? There was no way to know, but suddenly I became curious about something
“Adnus, by the way, what’s that Golden Ghost bastard’s real name?”
“……You didn’t know?”
“Would I ask if I knew?”
“No, didn’t he introduce himself back then? Bill Ironred.”
Ah, right, that was it. Well, given how I forgot it so easily, it probably wasn’t ‘that name.’ Guess I asked for no reason.
—Or so I thought.
“Though, if I remember correctly, I believe he changed his name once.”
What?
“……………What was it originally?”
“Hmm, I don’t really know. It was before he became this famous. He said that after he changed his name, things started going smoothly for him.”
“……I-Is that so?”
“Anyway, it was definitely a very common name. He himself said he changed his name because he didn’t like it.”
My heart started pounding at those words. No, more precisely.
“A common name……?”
Those words made my heart race. Not in a good way, but in a bad way.
“Yes, but is there a problem?”
This should be fine, right……?