Chapter 807

Chapter 807: The Last Day (4)

Why was Amelia, who was supposed to be monitoring those guys on Skull Island, here? I can’t know for certain right now, but I can make a guess.

‘Amelia, who was tasked with monitoring the Golden Tree Clan, is here……’

There’s a high probability they’ve entered this place as well. Amelia wouldn’t have come here without a reason.

“Have you seen anyone else besides my comrade?”

However, contrary to my expectations, Arta’s answer to my question was different from what I expected.

[“Well, so far, the only one confirmed is that woman.”]

“……Only one person?”

[“Is that a problem?”]

“No, not really. More importantly, I have a question. What kind of situation is my comrade in that made you say she’s about to die?”

[“I’m not sure if she’s lost, but that woman has already entered the ‘Beast’s’ territory. It wouldn’t be surprising for her to encounter it at any moment.”]

The ‘Memory of the End’ I’m currently in is a kind of hidden field, much like the ‘Labyrinth of Larkaz’ that I visited before. And the ‘Beast’ is essentially the boss of this field. But Amelia entered its territory?

‘Shit.’

Time was of the essence. Very, very much so.

“Arta, is there any additional information I should know?”

[“As I said earlier, in order to defeat the Beast, you must keep my words in mind—.”]

“So, there’s nothing else. Got it. See you later.”

There was no need to hear the strategy again, so my conversation with Arta ended there. After that, I quickly gathered the members and left Arta’s secret base.

“You understand even if I don’t say anything, right?”

“Yes. I’ll make sure we arrive in time, Captain.”

With Auyen’s reliable confirmation, the ship set sail, quickly cutting through the water.

Swooooosh-!

In some ways, it was even faster than when we first came here. Partly because we crammed mana stones into the ship’s propulsion device without caring about efficiency…… But the reason for this speed wasn’t just the mana stones.

[Auyen Rockrobe has cast Tailwind.]

[Auyen Rockrobe has cast Trade Route.]

[Auyen Rockrobe has cast Ghost Ship……]

Seeing Auyen activate all his skills, the members show worried expressions.

“Uh… Mr. Navigator? Are you alright? I understand it’s urgent, but there’s a saying that the more urgent something is, the more carefully you should proceed……”

“If you go all out from the beginning, you might collapse halfway through.”

As you’d expect from explorers with strong rational tendencies, even I had to admit it wasn’t just simple empathetic concern. If the mana stones ran out and his skills deactivated mid-journey, it could actually cause us to arrive later than normal.

So……

“Auyen, are you sure you’re okay?”

I asked only this on behalf of the members.

“We had to think about the return trip when we came here, but that’s not the case on the way back, is it?”

After hearing that answer, I didn’t ask anything more.

“Understood.”

If we’re experts at fighting monsters, then he was an expert at sailing. It’s best to just trust him and leave it to him.

Swooooosh-!

Time passed as we continued towards the island, which showed no signs of being visible from the ship’s bow.

Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-ring—

The 10-hour timer I had set when we entered Arta’s secret base started ringing. It was a timer I had set generously to account for any variables……

”I thought we could take it more leisurely on the way back……’

This just proves that things never go as planned.

Even the Sniktura raid had ended in a completely different way from what I had expected.

“……”

Maybe it was because there was nothing I could do but wait for the ship to reach its destination? As I stared at the endless horizon, all kinds of thoughts cluttered my mind, and I unconsciously clench my fist and jaw.

“Don’t worry too much…… It’ll be alright……”

“Yeah, that’s right, Mister. It’ll be okay.”

The others thought my hardened expression was because I was worried about Amelia, but that wasn’t the entire reason. While I am certainly worried about Amelia, memories of past events kept drifting into my mind and tormenting me.

“We faced a major crisis this time too, but in the end, everyone survived, right? Don’t worry too much.”

Erwen probably meant it as a comforting remark, but in truth, those very words were the needle stabbing my heart.

Just a few hours ago, we were on the verge of annihilation. No, in fact, we basically were annihilated once already.

I couldn’t figure out a way to overcome that situation, and I simply accepted that fate, preparing my ‘last words’ for the first time since becoming a barbarian. Of course, things somehow worked out well in the end, resulting in us defeating a rank 1 monster and obtaining an essence, but……

‘It wasn’t because of me.’

We only survived today because we were lucky. Honestly, I hadn’t even considered [Agent of the Stars].

‘……No, was it because I was incompetent that this happened?’

In fact, Looking back at the battle, we could have avoided ‘annihilation.’ If I had given up on Beleg, the raid would have proceeded according to my original plan. But I couldn’t do it and I let myself fall into the trap of thinking that if I just sacrificed just a little more, everything would work out. And the result of that stubbornness and persistence was devastating.

‘Of course, in the end, things turned out well, but……’

How long will this luck follow me? No, is it even reasonable for someone like me to have such a complacent attitude and rely on ‘luck’ in the first place?

‘That can’t be……’

Luck was on our side only this time. There won’t be a next time. If we’re in this same state again, we will undoubtedly face the worst possible outcome. With those thoughts in mind, I could now accept it with absolute certainty.

Bang-!

Right now, there’s a problem in my head. A very serious problem.

***

Was it because I suddenly slammed my head into the railing while standing at the bow?

“……”

“……”

Suddenly, silence settled over the deck. Belatedly noticing the sudden silence, I looked around, only to see the members quickly averting their gazes the moment our eyes met.

“Ahem……”

“Well, I should take care of my equipment. Where did I put the polishing compound……?”

Hah, I messed up again. Whether there’s a problem with my head or not, as the leader, I shouldn’t let it show to others.

‘It’s not like I’m the only one having a hard time.’

Being an explorer doesn’t make you immune to stress. It’s true that it’s a profession closely related to death, but every talented explorer experiences extreme stress in the process. That’s also why there are many explorers with broken personalities. Anyway, everyone has just overcome a life-threatening crisis, so they’re likely accumulating fatigue and feeling sensitive and now I’m making them feel like they have to walk on eggshells around me……

“Whew… My bad, everyone! I just felt like banging my head for a moment!!”

When I shouted with a bit of honesty, albeit in a joking manner, the tension eased a little.

“…Haha, is that so?”

“…Ah, right! Sometimes you just feel like banging your head……! Isn’t that right?”

“Ahaha, that’s right……!”

Their reactions were a bit awkward, but anything was better than dead silence. Perhaps my attempt to lighten the mood worked, because Raven, who had been keeping her distance to avoid my gloomy mood, had suddenly approached my side.

“Looks like you’ve finally got the energy to talk now?”

“…Do you have something to say?”

“About the Sniktura’s essence.”

Ah, that…… For a second, I thought she had rushed over to comfort me. Well, maybe it’s better to be treated normally like this?

“So what skills does it have? I’ve been dying of curiosity. Did you get the color you wanted?”

“Half of it.”

“Then that means one of the colors matched what you wanted?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, why are you talking like that all of a sudden? You clearly know what I’m curious about. Can’t you just give me a straight answer?”

“That’s for later, not now……”

“Later, what later! That’s the worst habit for an explorer. What if you die before ‘later’ comes? Then I’ll die of frustration and won’t even be able to decompose into mana particles!”

“…Mana decomposition?”

I tilted my head at the strange term, and Raven averted her gaze.

“Ah, well… it’s quite common among wizards. The belief that when you die, you don’t go into the embrace of a god or anything, but just decompose and turn into mana particles……”

Ah, so in other words, it’s like being an atheist? If I had to say, I suppose I fall on that side as well. I don’t believe in an afterlife, and when once die, you just biologically decompose and return to nothingness.

Of course, I hope I’m wrong. Regardless of my beliefs, I hope there really is an afterlife where you can rest peacefully after death. So that after a long time passes, we can meet again, talk about old times, and see each other at least once more.

“Hello?”

Ah, we were in the middle of a conversation.

“Seriously! You won’t tell me?”

“No, I was planning to tell you right now. But what was the question again?”

“The Sniktura’s essence!”

Ah, right…… Maybe because there’s a problem with my head, my mind isn’t working well.

“Sniktura’s essence comes with two passive skills. One is [All-Poison Body], and the other is [Final Radiance]……”

As I continued to recite the passive skill effects and active skills, Raven, who was initially listening with interest, was now looking at me with a frown.

“No, I mean what color did you want?”

Oh, that was the question.

“Actually, I didn’t desperately want any particular color.”

“What?”

“Anyway, the most important thing about this essence was always the passive skill, [Final Radiance].”

“What? Not [All-Poison Body]?”

Well, that one’s great too, but it can’t compare to this one. That’s because Amelia’s core essence is the Doppelganger’s [Self-Replication]. That’s why I later fed her the Twin Hydra’s essence to significantly enhance her ability to control her clones with [Dual Control], and by combining it the Cyclops’s [Wave Connection] to strengthen the performance of her clones to the level of her main body.

“…[Final Radiance], that’s the skill that monster used at the end, right? The one that activated when it was nearly dead……”

Hearing that the core skill was a passive skill, Raven muttered to herself before suddenly becoming excited like someone who just had a realization.

“Ah! So that’s it! When using clones, the disadvantage of not being able to turn it off once activated essentially disappears!”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Of course, there’s still the drawback of being unable to act for a minute after activation. But once that time passes, the result is an ultimate clone, one far more powerful than the original.

Of course, there is the drawback of being unable to act for one minute upon activation, but once that time passes, the result is an ultimate clone with specs several times more powerful than the main body.

‘If I just feed her this essence and fine-tune the rest of the setup, she should meet the bare minimum for the tenth floor.’

“Umm, so what skills does this essence have?”

Ah, that.

“First, one of them is [Form Transformation].”

“Oh, isn’t that really good?”

“When the Sniktura used it, it could freely transform into other monsters and use their unique abilities, but in reality, it’s a bit different.”

“How so?”

“You can only transform into the monster you last defeated, and even when transformed, your physical abilities don’t change.”

“Ah… I see.”

She sounded a little disappointed, but that’s not actually all there is to it. After all, it wouldn’t be a rank 1 essence for nothing, right? Of course, there are more varied ways to use it. But, such detailed know-how only needs to be taught to Amelia, who will actually use it.

“So what’s the other skill?”

“…[The Last Day].”

“What? There was such a skill?”

“There was……”

“…You don’t look too happy about it.”

“Well, because it’s complex.”

Honestly, I said any color was okay, but this was an exception. If it had been [Seed of the End] instead, it would have been more useful.

“What’s complex about it? Is it bad?”

Hmm, Well…… Should I really call it bad?

“Strictly speaking, it’s good, but there are several conditions that need to be met to use it.”

“Ah, now that I think about it, it seems like it never used it during the battle, right? What kind of skill is it?”

After that, I spent considerable time explaining the effect of the skill and its activation conditions, and perhaps having satisfied her curiosity, Raven finally left.

And at last, I had a moment to myself.

That’s when I remembered.

“Ah, wait a minute.”

This wasn’t the time for me to be worrying about someone else’s essence.

“…[Omen of Corruption].”

I got hit by that, didn’t I?