Chapter 122
Bzzzt! Bzzzzzt!
From between the flowers of electric current blooming in the empty air.
A German girl with snow-white skin appeared, grinding her teeth.
“You insane son of a bitch!”
The woman staring at me with venomous eyes was none other than Floa.
“If you cleared Theme 2, you cleared it, why are you messing with a dragon now? Do you all want to die together?”
Her tone was harsh.
However.
I could detect the worry hidden within it.
Of course, befitting a ranker, her aura was as imposing as ever.
“That person… who is she?”
“A examiner…?”
It was then that the frowning team members stepped back slightly.
“Thunderstrike?”
The middle-aged man stepped forward.
“Ooh! Could it be, you are Thunderstrike?”
“What, who’s that?”
Flinch.
Floa stepped back slightly.
“Ooh, Thunderstrike! To think I would meet a hero of my homeland in a foreign land! I am deeply moved!”
“What, you were German?”
Come to think of it, that middle-aged man.
I still didn’t even know his name.
All I knew was that he didn’t get along with Olivia.
And that he was a swordsman who used a sword.
“Yes, I am the A-rank swordsman, Maximilian! It is an honor to meet the Thunderstrike I have always admired!”
The middle-aged man bowed his head slightly in greeting.
Thanks to him, the murderous atmosphere was neutralized a bit.
“Whatever, anyway!”
Floa, who had been momentarily distracted, looked at me again.
“This is not happening! As a examiner, I have the right and duty to stop a participant’s reckless actions! You all can’t either! Everyone, put down your weapons!”
“……”
“Think carefully, you’ve been progressing well with good results, so why are you suddenly going off the rails? That dragon is different. It’s a truly, truly terrible bastard. So much so that it makes the Toxin Mist you consumed seem like ‘nothing’.”
“I know that, too.”
It wasn’t my first time.
Seeing a dragon.
“Then why are you acting like this when you know? Did you catch some disease where you’ll suffocate and die if you’re not reckless?”
“Not that, but.”
I smiled.
“A gut feeling.”
“What?”
“It’s just a gut feeling. Someone I respect once told me.”
The Elder of Ten Thousand Arts.
“That among the Ten Thousand Arts, I have already achieved Heavenly Luck.” And that heart of mine is telling me. To kill that dragon.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“It says if I kill that dragon, I’ll hit the jackpot.”
“……?”
Suddenly, Floa had a dumbfounded look on her face.
To describe her expression in words, it was a look that said, [What kind of guy is this?].
“Anyway.”
I said.
“The fact that you’re stepping up to stop me means that if you just turn a blind eye, I might have a shot at killing it, right?”
“You crazy bastard? You’re spouting that as a convincing argument?”
Bzzzzzt!
Electric currents gathered in Floa’s hand.
“You’ll never convince me with that kind of goddamn logic. If you want to go, you’ll have to go through me!”
“Hmm.”
It was a difficult situation.
I never thought a examiner would stand in my way.
I could use the wish I got last time, but.
It was a bit ambiguous.
Even if she steps aside, it’s not like I can stop all the examiner, right?
It was then.
“……How interesting.”
Floa’s murderous aura was cut off abruptly.
At the same time, the surroundings became quiet.
The murmuring team members, my and Floa’s breathing, all vanished.
Only that voice remained, reaching my eardrums.
“You are the first participant to step forward to kill a dragon here since the trial began.”
The one who spoke of opening the trial herself.
“Most of them cleared it without even realizing the dragon’s existence in the first place. Hmmm, this is certainly ambiguous. How should I handle this?”
World Rank 5.
Dungeon Maker Delilah.
She slowly revealed herself.
I swallowed my saliva.
The team members also had surprised expressions.
They never expected to encounter her, who was said to be difficult even for rankers to see, here in Theme 2.
“Delilah……”
“Yes, this is the first time we’ve met in person. Skeleton King.”
Ah.
Did I just have a conversation with the World Rank 5?
Anyway.
The fact that she stepped forward herself.
Was quite encouraging.
Like bickering with an employee at the company entrance, only for the CEO to appear in person?
I asked her straight to the point.
“That dragon, am I allowed to kill it?”
“Hmm.”
Her gaze swept over my face.
“Indeed, you are incredible.”
“……”
“You’ve already scrapped Theme 1 so it can’t be used again, and now you’re trying to destroy Theme 2 as well. Thanks to you, the next participants will have to proceed in an entirely new theme.”
Her words had a hidden barb.
However, I focused more on her other wording.
‘She said I destroyed it.’
That means.
It was finally certain.
‘This is another world.’
A real, existing world, not a created, virtual one.
She wasn’t creating dungeons.
She was just connecting them.
A Linker, not a Maker.
Just like how I had experienced other worlds through a medium dungeon.
Perhaps Delilah’s very existence was a medium that connected worlds?
“Hmm, I am concerned.”
It was then that Delilah looked at me with worried eyes.
“King, you are a being who is rewriting the history of my trial. If you just hold on as you are now, you will become the best output I can produce since the Berserker. But if you needlessly lose your life through a reckless challenge, it will all be for nothing, won’t it? It’s not good for you. And I, too, would be wasting my time.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“That could be the case.”
I spoke confidently.
You have to be confident at times like this.
If you lose your nerve, even things that could work out won’t.
“But there is no growth in the world without crisis. In the first place, if the goal was to play it safe, there would have been no need to open a trial like this. What you just said doesn’t fit the purpose.”
“I admit that. But.”
“I will win.”
“……”
I filled my voice with conviction.
“I have enough ideas, and I have a chance of winning. I’ve actually killed one before.”
“You killed a dragon…?”
“Delilah, you wish to produce strong individuals, don’t you?”
The trial.
Her trial gives out rewards equivalent to the increased Probability of its difficulty.
The examiners or Delilah do not interfere with that.
They just manage it.
That’s why I think.
“You want me to become stronger.”
That she is raising me.
That she is helping me.
I don’t know the exact reason why.
But for now, that was enough.
“I’ve heard it before. That the gap between rankers becomes exponential as you get into the single digits. The Berserker said it. That when he, the World Rank 20, faced the Heavenly Demon, the World Rank 3, he was nothing more than a Three Moves’ Foe. That prideful man said so himself.”
The wall of the single digits is that massive.
And the gap is as wide as the universe.
“I don’t intend to become an ordinary ranker. Since I’ve started this, I want to stand above all other rankers. To do that, I can’t clear this in an ordinary way. I have to forcibly fulfill the Probability I can gain from this trial to receive the rewards.”
“……”
“I am grateful to you.”
It was my lifelong dream.
My lifelong wish.
To become a ranker.
She systemized it, institutionalized it.
Whatever the circumstances, she gave me a chance.
A chance to fly even higher.
“That is why I truly want to repay you. By becoming stronger. In the end, I want to surpass you and become so strong that no one can ever look down on me. Isn’t that what you truly desire?”
I looked at her.
“……”
There was a long silence.
Then, at that moment.
Pfft.
A breath escaped her lips.
“So, right now.”
Delilah smiled.
“You’re telling me to make a bet? With your life on the line.”
“……”
“You’re telling me to push you into an even harsher trial, right? To the point where you almost die, no, to the point where you actually die.”
No, I didn’t mean for you to actually kill me.
Did I say something I shouldn’t have?
My heart pounded.
“Well, alright.”
Delilah nodded.
“I’ll accept that bet. All or nothing, you say. This should be fun.”
At the same time, she waved her hand.
“Theme 2 will be temporarily extended. I will give it to you again as a hidden quest. From now on, all examiners will withdraw from this Theme 2. Also.”
She looked at the other team members besides me.
“You all can move to Theme 3 immediately if you wish.”
“Not necessary.”
Zhang Wei immediately shook his head.
“I will follow my friend to hell.”
A resolute tone, even when facing Delilah.
That was just like Zhang Wei.
“We don’t need it either.”
Myoi Hana said.
“I was already prepared for this.”
Capu also nodded.
“To be the friend of a madman, I guess I have to be a madman too.”
“They say dragons are good at magic, right? As a mage, I can’t just pass this up.”
The other team members were the same.
No one tried to run away.
They stuck right by my side.
Grin.
I smiled.
I’m not smiling because I’m grateful they’re staying.
It wouldn’t have mattered to me even if I were alone.
‘However.’
I was happy that the comrades I’d made this time were courageous people.
People full of potential for growth.
Perhaps.
If we make it out alive.
They will all rise to high positions.
At this rate, couldn’t we become people worthy of each other?
“Indeed.”
Delilah smiled.
“This batch is beautiful.”
[Ting!]
[A hidden mission has arrived.]
[Stage: Kill the Dragon!]
[The 7 team members must ‘cooperate’ to eliminate the Greed Dragon ‘Aranvalon’ that exists in the central giant castle.]
“May your results shine as brightly as your courage.”
[Delilah wishes you luck.]
It was a hard-won opportunity.
* * *
[Aranvalon frowns.]
[It speaks to the being from another world.]
[It asks if you are breaking the pact.]
[Aranvalon grows furious at the lack of response.]
* * *
Ruuuumble!
At that moment.
The white door disappeared.
Also, the ‘Treasures’ that had been all around vanished.
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, and standing atop it was a giant dragon.
The bright yellow eyes of the dragon were staring down at the seven of us.
– I thought you were some commendably loyal bastards.
Ah.
I shuddered.
A power so immense that I wondered how I ever thought of killing something like this.
“Heup!”
My breath caught in my throat.
Dragon Fear.
Just by watching it, an instinctual fear crept up from the soles of my feet.
Goosebumps covered my entire body.
The pressure was on a different level from what I saw in Capu’s video.
Yes, this wasn’t a dragon.
This was a god.
A god of destruction that seemed capable of destroying everything.
– So you were just ignorant fools who didn’t know your place.
Indeed.
Delilah kept her promise well.
My original plan was to just throw Eldrin through the white door.
But she had kindly brought us right in front of the dragon herself.
‘Damn it.’
There was no need to go this far.
I looked at my party members.
They were all craning their necks upwards, their bodies stiff as boards.
This wouldn’t do.
At this rate, it was obvious we would all be stomped into chunks of meat in an instant.
“Snap out of it!”
Swish!
I transformed the ‘Sealed Spirit of Seven Essences’ (1/7) into a gauntlet.
At the same time.
KWAAAAANG!
I slammed it forcefully onto the ground.
“Wha-what!”
“Hoon?”
“Everyone, snap out of it and jump back!”
I yelled.
It wouldn’t make much of a difference even if we ran.
But at least it was better than just standing here.
‘The truly meaningful action is.’
This right here.
“Eldrin!”
“Yes, Master!”
“Release the seal right now!”
“I understand!”
A black energy began to spread rapidly from Eldrin’s grasp.
Gooooooooooh…….
Along with the wail of a demon that sounded like it was coming from the depths of the Abyss.
We, here.
Unleashed the Great Demon Dragon.