Final Day

Final Day was one of the active skills used by the Level 1 monster, Snictura, and its effects were highly varied.

Boom!

Meteors fell from the sky.

Bolts of lightning, each carrying the power of a Level 3 attack spell, struck the ground.

Rumble!

At times, the earth itself trembled and collapsed, making movement impossible for a short while.

As its name suggested, the skill brought with it truly terrifying effects. Worse still, they lasted for a full twenty-four hours and affected everything within a six-mile radius of the caster.

After listening to the explanation, Aynar looked oddly thrilled.

“Hmm? Isn’t that a good thing? We can kill monsters without doing anything!”

I didn’t bother explaining it to her.

For barbarians, learning through pain was always the most effective method.

Flash!

The moment a bolt of lightning struck her, Aynar froze in place, trembling, unable to even let out a scream.

Bang!

This was the biggest problem with Final Day. The meteors, lightning, and other apocalyptic effects were undeniably destructive, but they made no distinction between friend and foe.

“Pheneline! A-are you okay?”

“U-ugh… I-I’m fine… I just can’t m-move my mouth—!”

Flash!

“Aynar got struck by lightning again…! A-are you all right?”

“G-gugh… Uh… E-Emily…! S-stop this already! I-it really hurts…!”

By some stroke of terrible luck, Aynar had already been struck by lightning twice, and she immediately called out to Amelia for help. But Amelia only stared back at her in shock.

That was the second problem with this skill.

Even though it attacked allies and enemies alike, it couldn’t be canceled once activated.

“Emily! Maybe you didn’t hear me, but—”

“Stop it, Aynar. She can’t stop it now that it’s started. No matter what she does, it will continue for twenty-four hours.”

“What? Don’t lie to me! I’m not stupid! What kind of ability can’t be turned off?!”

“Uh…”

I trailed off, unable to answer right away.

I hadn’t expected her to shout that as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. But judging from everyone else’s reactions, I wasn’t the only one caught off guard.

“Raven? Isn’t it usually impossible to cancel most activated abilities once they’re in effect?”

Having heard it from Raven herself, Aynar had no retort.

Amelia, who had been the cause of this entire discussion, cautiously glanced around at the rest of us.

“…Well, it is still amazing. To think it lasts for 24 hours.”

“It’s not amazing. It’s horrifying.”

“But this is a serious problem. If Pheneline reacted like that, then most ordinary people would probably die from a single hit.”

“And the fact that it keeps going for twenty-four hours makes it even worse…”

Amelia cleared her throat, clearly aware that she was the one who had caused this whole accident. Then, in a soft voice, she looked straight at me and said,

“So… s-strictly speaking, this isn’t entirely my fault.”

For a moment, I wondered if I had misheard her.

“Huh?”

I had been waiting to hear what she would say, and now she was trying to shift the blame? Amelia, of all people?

When I continued staring at her in complete disbelief, Amelia averted her gaze and muttered,

“I-I mean… Jandel, if the conditions you mentioned were correct, this shouldn’t have worked in the first place…”

Ah, that.

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“That’s right, Mr. Jandel! Why did it activate?” Raven joined the conversation with curiosity, and everyone’s eyes gathered on me.

However…

“Well, I’m not sure.”

Honestly, I didn’t know either. In the game, only one condition was required to activate Final Day.

Final Day could only be used on the day the labyrinth closed: the seventh day on the first floor, the tenth day on the second floor, and so on.

“What do you mean, who knows? Didn’t you say this skill could only be activated on the day the labyrinth closes?”

Raven was right.

Even though we were inside a hidden field, we were still on the sixth floor. In other words, it shouldn’t have been usable until the sixtieth day.

“Then why did it activate now?”

Good question.

Leaving aside the fact that we were in danger, wasn’t this strange?

How had an ability that was supposed to be usable only on the day the Labyrinth closed been activated now?

Boooooom!

Was there some hidden condition or function I didn’t know about?

***

Honestly, my luck had been too good lately.

We had survived against Snictura without anyone dying, despite being on the verge of annihilation.

On top of that, we even obtained its essence.

My luck had been far too good.

But because of that…

It makes me even more uneasy…

In my experience, good fortune was usually followed by misfortune, just as bad luck was often followed by something good.

There was a lot I needed to think about. The summoning of the sixth floor’s Lord, the activation of Final Day, and what choices I should make from here on.

But for now…

We weren’t in such a bad position.

At least, that was the conclusion I reached.

If I ignored everything happening outside and focused only on clearing the hidden field, Memories of the End, then Final Day’s activation was actually helpful. At the very least, it would assist us in taking down the beast, the boss of this island.

「More than 10% of the monsters in the region have been defeated.」

「The authority of the Ancient Beast is weakened.」

「More than 20% of the monsters in the region have been defeated.」

「The authority of the Ancient Beast is weak—」

All we were doing was circling the outskirts of the island with Amelia, yet the monsters on the island were being eliminated at a rapid pace.

It was almost as if we were carpet-bombing everything around us.

[You have defeated a Fanatic Gatekeeper. +7 EXP]

[You have defeated a Frightening Memory. +6 EXP]

[You have defeated a Fascinating Flower. +6 EXP]

[You have defeated a Winter Hound…]

From the occasional surge of experience I felt, even monsters above rank 4 were being obliterated by the falling meteors and lightning strikes.

At this rate, clearing the entire region in a single day might actually be possible.

Considering I had originally expected this part of the expedition to take a full week, our progress had accelerated far beyond schedule.

Of course, that didn’t mean it came without new problems.

As with everything in this world, rushing things always came with a price.

“Raaaah! That’s the tenth time I’ve been struck by lightning already!”

“Kyaaaa! Mr. Parab! Mr. Parab was hit by a meteor!”

Party members were collapsing after being struck by lightning, and those caught by meteors were being pushed into critical condition.

But the greatest problem was something else entirely.

“Um… We have five people left now, right?”

“Since Ms. Raines doesn’t need one right away, it’s actually four.”

“Ah… right…”

‘Memories of the End’ is a field you conquer by constantly resetting the [Terminus] debuff. However, due to [Final Day], the reset process was being hindered.

After all, we had to encounter monsters in order to cast Distortion.

“B-But will it be okay…? There are only 2 hours left…”

“Haha… it will be fine, Ms. Marone! Don’t worry too much!”

“Don’t worry…? Mr. Parav, you can only say that with a smile because you’ve already reset your time!”

“I-I wasn’t smiling!”

A brief silence followed.

“…I’m sorry. I was being too sensitive. It’s not like this is your fault, either.”

“I-it’s okay! Given the situation you’re in, it’s only natural that you’d react that way. You don’t need to apologize…”

Of course, if the worst came to worst, I planned to send the members who hadn’t managed to reset their time through the portal to Skull Island.

At the very least, that should cleanse their Terminus.

The issue was that the floor outside wasn’t perfectly safe either, since the Lord of the Floor had already been summoned…

Even so, it was still a hundred times better than staying in a situation where death was absolutely guaranteed.

[Time until death: 01:50:17]

With less than two hours remaining before Terminus activated, we pushed ourselves to move as fast as possible, focusing on using distortion magic against the monsters.

[Lyris Marone has consumed Original Sin.]

[Beleg Shucia di Tersia has consumed Original Sin.]

We managed to reset two more people and even obtained a third Original Sin afterward.

Now, all we needed was one more—

“Oh!”

For some reason, the moment one dropped, Guild Master Ilya Adnus’s face lit up.

I didn’t comment on it at first, but what he muttered next was something I couldn’t let slide.

“Ahem! So it is finally my turn…”

As the captain, I couldn’t ignore that.

“Your turn? There’s still one person who hasn’t consumed Original Sin yet.”

“Oh, you mean him?”

Adnus glanced toward Auyen, who was standing beside Amelia. Yet he didn’t seem particularly concerned.

“Haha, please don’t joke. It isn’t as though you’re handing these out at random, are you? From what I can tell, you’ve been giving them to the vanguard first, then the backline, and after that, to those who would be most useful to the expedition.”

Wow. He noticed that…?

Maybe I should have expected as much from someone involved in politics, but he really was sharp.

Still, if he was that smart, how had he failed to notice this?

“Auyen is next.”

You’re last in line, you bastard.

Naturally, that pecking order sparked some tension within the group.

Guild Master Adnus looked at me with clear dissatisfaction.

“What’s with that look?”

He flinched.

“I’m not giving you any looks…”

I literally saw you.

“Are you saying you’re more useful to this expedition than Auyen?” I asked, pressing him.

As if he had been waiting for that opening, Adnus quickly replied.

“Ahem… It has been quite some time since I retired, and I understand that everyone has their own specialties. However, I am not so incompetent that I would lose out to just anyone…”

He seemed irritated that his importance was being ranked below that of a mere navigator.

“What do you mean you’re fine?”

“First of all… Mr Adnus is a much greater person than I could ever hope to be..”

That made me a bit annoyed. I didn’t know if he was doing it because he hated conflict or if he was truly being humble. I couldn’t let my own clan member act like that, so I spoke flatly.

I didn’t care if that guy was a former guild leader or whatever.

“Auyen, you are a member of our Anabada Clan.”

“And he isn’t. Is there anything more to think about?”

“If not, eat it. Adnus will be taken care of when the next one comes out.”

There was a proper order to things.

“That’s the end of the discussion. We don’t have time, so no questions.”

Adnus said nothing more.

He knew it too.

Here, my word was law.

「Auyen Rockrobe has consumed ‘Original Sin.’」

「Fire resistance has permanently increased by +1.」

After finishing Auyen’s reset, I was able to move with a somewhat lighter heart.

“Didn’t you suddenly become too relaxed?”

“You’re imagining things.”

“N-No, we really seem to have slowed down… and… we’re moving away from the portal…… Didn’t you say that, in the worst case, we would have to use that portal?”

“Everyone’s tired. Stop complaining when we’re all exhausted.”

“I-I apologize. I didn’t mean to irritate you.”

You should have said that earlier.

People like him always needed discipline.

“Then let’s pick up the pace.”

After that, we moved quickly again and resumed the hunt.

Ultimately, we also managed to reset Adnus’s timer.

[Ilya Adnus has consumed Original Sin.]

[Fire Resistance has permanently increased by +1.]

A little more time passed.

“Above!”

At someone’s shout, I lifted my head and saw a black portal forming overhead.

It was not particularly surprising.

“Again?”

In fact, that too was one of the effects of Final Day.

Aside from dropping meteors and lightning, this skill occasionally created portals like that and spat out random monsters.

“I wonder what will come out this time.”

“Everyone, don’t let your guard down! If Mr. Jandel’s explanation is correct, it can summon monsters as high as Level 2!”

As soon as they saw the portal, everyone formed up and prepared for battle.

And then…

“It’s small.”

“A small species?”

“It does not look very strong.”

Finally, the monster’s shape slowly emerged from the portal.

Then the monster screamed as it fell to the ground.

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah…!]

Thud!

[A-Aow, that hurt…]

After landing hard on its rear, the monster rubbed its butt with both hands and muttered in ancient language.

[O-ouch… But I did it! I actually managed to come here! Wahoo! My research into mana-quantum-dynamical extraction-conversion-dynamical alignment was right!]

Wait, is this even a monster in the first place?

I wasn’t sure, but the possible monster shouted in excitement, then turned around.

The moment it noticed us, it froze in fright.

“Hieeeeek! Wh-who are you…?”

That was exactly what I wanted to ask.

It was speaking in the ancient language too.

“What are you?” I asked in return.

“Me? I-I’m called Arta…?”

“…Arta?”

We had uncovered yet another hidden piece I knew nothing about.

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