Chapter 75

Chapter 75
## Chapter 75: Commencing with 13 Concealed Attributes

The area remained undisturbed, showing no evidence of previous visitors.

He was the pioneer.

Although seven others had entered the subterranean maze before him, he had outpaced everyone to be the first to confront Sword Saint Riley.

His pulse quickened with anticipation.

‘I failed to acquire the Hydragon’s Soul from the Labyrinth Merchant, but Riley’s defeat will be mine regardless.’

It seemed the rumors were unreliable after all.

He had meticulously searched every corner for the elusive Labyrinth Merchant within these depths, yet the Hydragon’s Soul was nowhere to be found.

Still, he was certain he would be the one to overcome Riley.

Gracia reached out and rested his palm against the heavy door.

In that very moment:

《Granting access to the chamber of ‘Sword Saint Riley’.》

《Requiring challenger identification.》

《The challenger’s identity shall be broadcast to all participants.》

An identity. A name, then.

Without a second thought, Gracia entered his choice.

—

The Player Talk forums were once again a whirlwind of activity.

A global notification had flashed before the eyes of everyone currently inside the instance.

-Sword Saint taking on a Sword Saint? What are we looking at here?

-That’s Gracia stepping up, isn’t it?

-My heart is racing just thinking about it.

-Place your bets. Who takes it?

-You’ve got Sword Saint Riley, the legend of old, against Gracia, the legend of now.

-Gracia’s got this in the bag.

The consensus leaned heavily toward Gracia.

He was a man who didn’t know the taste of defeat.

A meticulous strategist, he never engaged in a conflict unless the odds were overwhelmingly in his favor.

The mere fact that he had initiated the challenge was proof enough of his certainty.

-Well, looks like the labyrinth is going to the Seven Heroes after all.

-If it has to be someone, I’m glad it’s Gracia. He’s decent, right?

-LOL, you guys are naive if you think this is just a friendly rivalry.

-Gracia plays the “clean” hero well, but everyone looks out for their own in the end.

-Randolph is staying quiet, so he’s likely sitting this one out.

-Definitely. Someone would have snapped a screenshot if he moved.

-How many territories does Gracia control if he wins this?

-Four officially? If the Seven Heroes actually teamed up, they’d have enough land for a literal kingdom lol.

-Is this the precursor to a player-run nation?

-Whatever. Let them take it all!

As of now, Pangeniar lacked any kingdoms ruled solely by players.

While powerful individuals held sway over several cities, establishing a true kingdom required the unification of ten cities and the crowning of a single monarch.

Should this Abyss Labyrinth fall to Gracia, his personal domain would expand to four cities.

Combined with his peers, the foundation for a sovereign state was within reach.

Even without their help, Gracia was clearly laying the groundwork for his own ascension to royalty.

-Wait, phase 2 already?

-That’s terrifying…

-Gracia is an absolute beast.

-With a clear speed like that, is there even a chance for a twist?

-Incredible.

—

Greed rested a hand on his hip and erupted into a boisterous laugh.

Two million!

His personal valuation was displayed as a staggering two million points.

It was more than eight times the 230,000 he had accumulated through every previous wager combined.

-Hahaha! Don’t look so miserable. You never know how the cards might fall, right?

Never know? Hardly.

There would be no surprises today.

Nothing could possibly bridge a gap of two million.

Countless individuals had come here, staking their very essence on the line. While Greed never risked himself, many others had—and none had ever breached the 100,000 mark.

Surpassing two million?

His triumph was a mathematical certainty.

Radiating arrogance, Greed turned his gaze toward the human.

His own assessment was complete; now it was time to calculate the human’s worth.

‘Maybe 100,000? Or perhaps he’s worth 200,000?’

Given how far this human had pushed the situation, the result might actually be a record for a challenger.

But even then, 200,000 was the absolute ceiling.

One million!

Greed was genuinely taken aback. A mere human possessing a value of one million!

Yet, it still fell short of his own two-million-point standing.

-What a pity. A little more effort and you might have actually stood a chance······.

Then, the world seemed to shift.

The leading digit flickered and transformed.

······He matched me?

No, the evaluation was still in progress.

There were simply too many variables to calculate.

His inherent authority was struggling to process the sheer volume of data all at once.

This happened on rare occasions.

The number might still fluctuate or even drop.

It wasn’t finalized.

Then it solidified.

Why was the number still climbing?

······?

······Is the system malfunctioning?

Why did the value keep doubling without pause?

What is happening?

Stop it already.

But the ascent continued.

······································· This is impossible.

It’s going even higher?

—

Greed fell to the floor, pressing his face against the ground.

His entire frame was wracked with tremors.

Pure, unadulterated terror gripped him. He was experiencing true fear for the first time.

Fear of the ‘value’ he was witnessing—and fear of the overwhelming presence standing before him.

“Tell me, how do I go about challenging Sword Saint Riley?”

-Y-You r-require a th-thousand vouchers.

“Vouchers? The ones dropped by the event creatures?”

-Y-Yes. H-However, I strongly advise against that path. You would face the most lethal version of ‘Sword Saint Riley’, weighed down by every conceivable ‘intimidation’.

“Then what is the better way?”

-Feed this voucher into the Labyrinth Merchant!

Crrack!

Greed reached up and shattered his own crown.

From the wreckage emerged a shimmering golden ticket.

He explained that this golden ticket needed to be inserted into the Labyrinth Merchant… which was essentially a vending machine.

Greed extended the ticket toward the human, his hand shaking violently.

He couldn’t even bring himself to make eye contact.

‘How could such a figure even exist······.’

The calculation wasn’t an error.

His authority had operated perfectly.

That staggering number was the human’s actual worth.

It was a figure so astronomical that even a deity might find it hard to believe.

The mere thought of it sent another wave of shivers through Greed’s body.

[Golden Ticket]

Sword Saint Riley.

He was a powerfully built elder with a shock of snowy hair.

He moved with a heavy gait, dragging a fractured iron blade across the stone, his limbs bound by four thick chains at the wrists and ankles.

The moment their eyes met, a deluge of notifications flooded the air.

《All attributes reduced by 5 due to ‘Sword Saint’s Intimidation’.》

《Peripheral vision obscured by ‘Sword Saint’s Intimidation (2)’.》

《Healing abilities suppressed by ‘Sword Saint’s Intimidation (3)’.》

《Fever state induced by ‘Sword Saint’s Intimidation (4)’······.》

The debuffs were relentless.

Gracia merely grinned.

“Sword Saint Riley. The man known as the ‘Great Sword’ of the fallen empire.”

That was his title in the annals of history.

But the Great Sword had lost its luster, entombed alive in this dark pit alongside the legion of knights who had stayed loyal to him.

“As a successor to the ‘Sword Saint lineage’, I wished to speak with you. Through the language of blades.”

Whoosh!

A solitary sword, radiating an ethereal light, ascended into the air.

It pulsed with a sapphire brilliance, looking like an artifact from another realm entirely.

The unique-grade weapon, ‘Blue Glow’—once the very sword of Sword Saint Riley.

Gracia had claimed the title of Sword Saint in part because he possessed this very blade.

He wondered what the old man’s reaction would be.

To see his cherished weapon held by a stranger.

Riley froze the instant the sword appeared.

Did he recognize his old companion?

-You······ are not him.

Riley’s voice rasped.

Not him?

The response was bizarre. Riley began to shake, as if gripped by a sudden, violent chill.

-You are not the one······!

Fwoosh!

Ebon flames roared from Riley’s skin.

They flared outward like dark wings.

His eyes bled into a deep, malevolent crimson.

This wasn’t a normal state; he looked like a man possessed by madness.

“I suppose talking is out of the question.”

Gracia clicked his tongue and fully unleashed his sword space.

A thousand blades materialized, hovering in the void.

Boom boom boom boom boom!!

They launched forward like a rapid-fire barrage.

Each impact triggered a thunderous explosion.

It was an assault designed to level anything in its path.

Once nearly three hundred blades had struck Riley, Gracia raised a hand.

Snap!

The metallic rain ceased instantly.

As the dust settled, Riley remained standing, his body largely unharmed.

Clank!

However, the shackle around his left ankle shattered.

‘Phase 2.’

So there were five stages in total?

It appeared that dealing enough damage to break a chain triggered the next phase of the fight.

The boss would progress through these stages regardless of the total damage dealt.

It was a classic mechanic.

“This should be fun.”

He wondered how much more the old man could take.

The power of the thousand swords intensified as the sequence reached its end.

Could Riley survive the full brunt of his power until every chain lay in ruins?

Gracia reached out his hand once more.

—

-A-Are you truly going to face Sword Saint Riley?

The question came just as he was finished gathering the spoils and preparing to depart.

Greed sounded hesitant.

“I’m weighing my options.”

To be blunt, a direct confrontation with Sword Saint Riley in his current state seemed impossible.

Even with the golden ticket to clear the debuffs and level the playing field, a win wasn’t guaranteed.

Having Greed as an ally would help, certainly.

Greed was Level 12 and a ruler of the Abyss himself.

If he attempted the raid with a full party······.

‘The success rate would be roughly 10%.’

That was the source of his hesitation.

The riches he’d already taken from Greed were comparable to anything Riley might drop.

He was already struggling to manage the haul he had currently.

Risking everything on such poor odds seemed foolish.

Greed then spoke, his tone becoming uncharacteristically somber.

-I have spent ages in this darkness watching Sword Saint Riley. His power is so immense that he placed those four seals upon himself.

“He sealed himself? After falling into the abyss?”

-Do you understand the nature of the abyss?

“Not particularly.”

The abyss was a mystery.

Entries were rare, and the hostile rulers left little room for academic study.

-There are four kinds of masters here. Those born of the abyss, those who were dragged into it, those who chose to enter it, and those who become the abyss itself.

Greed identified as the third kind.

One who had ventured into the depths by choice.

A lord of the overlapping lower abyss!

-Sword Saint Riley is one who was ‘dragged into the abyss’. The danger is that, on occasion, one of those who fell can transform into ‘the abyss itself’.

“And what does that imply?”

-If someone becomes the abyss itself, they trigger the immediate and forced erosion of one of the sky cities.

-······That’s grim.

I had seen a ‘forced erosion’ once before.

A thriving city simply vanished into the void.

Initially, people blamed a teleportation error.

But when it was discovered the warp gates were functioning perfectly yet the city was still consumed, it caused a panic.

It turned out that event was linked to the birth of a new personification of the abyss.

-If all the chains break, Riley will become the abyss itself. He is aware of this, which is why he imprisoned himself. Are you truly prepared for that consequence?

It was strange for Greed to show concern for a human.

But this human possessed an ‘astronomical value’.

He was a being of such a different magnitude that his humanity was in question.

If he fought Riley, the seals would break. A human city in the sky would be forcibly consumed.

Everyone in a city suffering forced erosion is wiped out. No one makes it out alive.

That was the weight of Greed’s question.

“Do you know which cities are targeted by ‘forced erosion’?”

-Any city linked to this specific ‘labyrinth’.

“Then it could be any of them.”

The risk was universal.

I stopped for a moment.

‘Wait. Cities linked to the labyrinth?’

In Pangeniar, every city was connected to the labyrinth through the warp network.

Even on Earth, numerous warps led here.

I had never understood why Earth was tied to this place.

After all, only players held the ‘Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule’, and they could access the labyrinth from Pangeniar. Now the reason for Earth’s connection was clear. Forced erosion… if it struck Earth.

“Is there no way to prevent the erosion?”

-None.

Greed’s answer was absolute. ···No way? If Greed claimed it was so, it was the truth.

My head began to throb with the implications. Should I intervene to ensure no one ever completes the challenge?

Kyakyakyakya!

Hel was happily digging through the massive pile of gold and jewels behind me.

A truly carefree spirit.

Just watching him usually made my stress evaporate.

This time was no different.

“······Actually, there might be a way.”