Final Day

At first glance, the difference between a Level 8 monster and a Level 9 monster, such as a goblin and a death fiend, might seem like night and day. In reality, however, the gap between those two levels is not that large.

At least not compared to the difference between Levels 2 and 1.

Generally speaking, five Rank 9 explorers could take down a Level 8 monster without much trouble. The same applied to Level 7 monsters, which could be hunted by five Rank 8 explorers. This formula continues for quite some time.

‘Up to about Level 3, that is.’

Starting from Level 3, even if every participant was Rank 4, a raid of at least twelve people was recommended. For a Level 2 monster, a full expedition force of more than thirty Rank 3 adventurers was necessary.

So what, then, about a Level 1 monster?

In reality, every Level 1 monster had its own distinct traits, making it hard to speak about them as a single category. However, considering that when we hunted Kashan, the Prophetic Wolf, on Library Island, we mobilized hundreds of people and still lost so many elite explorers…

There was no way to create a standard rule for them.

That much, at least, I knew for certain:

A Level 1 monster existed on a completely different plane from a Level 2. That was exactly why any explorer who possessed a Level 1 essence would instantly become the center of attention.

Demon Eye was a perfect example.

In any case, that was not what mattered right now.

Creak… creeeak… screech.

Perhaps because of all the dents Snictura had left in it, the door no longer opened as smoothly as before. Instead, it moved with a long, grating creak.

As I watched the gap slowly widen, my heart began to pound.

Ba-dump!

Did it drop or not?

Creeeak!

Maybe it was the dopamine flooding my brain, but the door seemed to open in slow motion.

Boom!

When it finally stopped, Raven’s stammering voice gave me the answer.

“Th-That over there…”

“Th-That’s… That’s an essence… right?”

I rubbed my eyes before answering.

“Bethel—ra…”

Snictura’s essence had dropped.

***

The impact of a Level 1 essence was overwhelming.

“Whoa…”

“So that’s what a Level 1 essence looks like…”

“Adnus, don’t even think about doing anything strange.”

“Ahem. I was merely expressing my admiration.”

“As expected, even its Aura feels different…”

Everyone stared in awe at the essence’s mysterious grandeur. I couldn’t blame them. Even for explorers who had spent their whole lives in the labyrinth, seeing a Level 1 essence in person was incredibly rare.

And as someone had mentioned, even its color was different from an ordinary essence.

“It has two colors…?”

Sinctura’s essence floated in the air, giving off a brilliant two-colour glow. However, it did not feel as though the two colours were mixed together. Rather, the colours were completely separate, like the yin and yang symbol.

“Ah, now that I think about it, I’ve heard that some Level 1 essences are like this.” Raven commented

“If it has two colors, then does that mean it has two abilities too?”

“Yes, that’s what I’ve heard.”

“Then that essence…”

“Who can say? Even I don’t know much about it. Information on Level 1 essences is extremely scarce. Honestly, most of them are treated more like myths than real things.”

“But there are at least a few people in every generation who have them, no?”

“That’s true. But in any generation, do you think someone with something like that would cooperate with research?”

As Raven said that, she glanced sideways at me.

Her eyes seemed to ask if I knew anything about that essence. Well, she wasn’t wrong.

However…

“Raven, take out the test tube first.”

In any case, work came first. We still had plenty of time left, but there was no reason to waste any of it. Besides, as a gamer, my instinct was to grab any rare item the moment it appeared, whether I needed it or not.

“But…”

At that moment, Raven took out a test tube and asked me,

“Is it not the color you wanted?”

That? I wasn’t storing it in the test tube because of its colour. The reason was a little more awkward.

“This essence is for Emily,” I explained.

“Oh? So you’re prioritizing a woman who isn’t even here with us?”

Uh…?

Was that how it sounded?

Since the members here had risked their lives fighting Snictura, I supposed it could seem a little shameless.

Raven studied my reaction. “I was joking. Why are you taking it so seriously?”

“Hah. I don’t know how someone like you ended up making an internal rule like that. Doesn’t the captain have as many votes as all the other members combined?”

Since I felt like the more I talked, the more unfavorable things would become, I simply chose silence. Raven stopped teasing me after that and focused more intently than usual on sealing the essence inside the test tube.

“It’s done.”

At last, Raven handed me the test tube containing Snictura’s essence, and our business here was finished.

“U-uwaaagh! Hap!”

Sven Parab, who had been unconscious until now, finally regained consciousness. He sprang upright and immediately raised his guard, shouting as though he had woken from a nightmare and preparing to fight whatever was closest to him.

His reaction was understandable.

The last thing he remembered must have been the battle against Snictura.

I had also heard that frontline fighters often lost consciousness for brief moments during intense combat, so this kind of thing was not unusual.

After quickly looking around, however, he seemed to settle down. Still looking somewhat stunned, he lowered his stance back to normal.

“Th-this is…? D-did we win?!”

“Yeah, we won,” I said with a shrug. “So calm down.”

“N-no one died?”

“As you can see.”

Parab let out a long sigh of relief.

‘Do I look like that to others too…?’

I had no way of knowing, but either way, I didn’t mind. Passing out while still worrying about whether your allies were safe only made a person seem more dependable and trustworthy.

“But what happened?” Parab asked

“How much do you remember?”

“That… the Captain said we were all going to die and told us to say whatever we wanted to say… Ah! I was despairing, thinking ‘I’m really dying like this’…”

Sven Parab trailed off, then seemed to remember something, raising his voice excitedly.

“Ah! Authority! Since there was nothing else I could do, I used the new authority I got! But… did it work?”

“Huh? Why are you not saying anything? Did it work? No, it did work, right? That’s how everyone survived, isn’t it?”

His excitement made me want to agree with him, to confirm what he believed. That only made the weight in my chest grow heavier.

“So what was it? What effect did the authority have? Was it defensive? Or maybe offensive? Wait, did I kill Snictura in one hit…? Huh? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Confused by my silence, Parab frowned and looked toward the others. But the moment his gaze reached them, they all looked away. Or rather, their eyes turned straight to me instead.

“Ex-excuse me…? Can you all not hear me…?”

“Kaislan? Miss Marone? Miss Karlstein…?”

Tsk. In the end, I had no choice but to take the bullet. It felt heavy,
since it almost seemed like we were excluding and bullying him, but there was no other choice.

The goddess herself had descended to warn us.

Sven Parab must never learn the truth about his authority.

“Authority? What are you talking about?”

He blinked. “Huh?”

“Nothing happened.”

Even if I feel a bit sorry, this was the right way.

***

We left the laboratory behind, climbed back up the ladder, and returned to the bunker area where we had first started. There, Auyen came running over to meet us.

“Captain! Thank goodness you’re safe!”

“Thanks. You saved us this time.”

“Not at all! I only happened to be in the right place at the right moment. I didn’t really do anything!”

“Don’t say that,” I said, firmly rejecting his modesty. Then, making sure my sincerity came across, I added, “Everyone survived because of you.”

My praise made Parab tilt his head.

“Huh? We all survived because of Rockrobe? What do you mean? Didn’t we all work together to kill Snictura…? Wait, why are you going quiet again?”

“No, why is everyone suddenly silent again…?”

Really, he needed to learn when not to ask certain questions.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to find a way around it this time. Someone spoke up at exactly the right moment.

“[I witnessed everything. You have fulfilled the duty entrusted to you, warriors of the empire!]”

The master of the secret base, Arta, spoke through the speakers.

I couldn’t help feeling bewildered. Its tone was congratulatory, but I still remembered how much it had complained about us being selfish imperials. More than that, there was something it said that I couldn’t just ignore.

“[When you suddenly started destroying the laboratory, I wondered what would happen. But in the end, my judgment proved correct.]”

“[Correct?]” I asked in the ancient language.

“[Think of what would have happened if I had opened the door. This world would never have been granted salvation.]”

Damn. Did it seriously just say that?

There were plenty of things I wanted to say, but arguing with an AI felt like a waste of effort, so I held my tongue. I planned to take only what I needed from this thing and leave.

“[Thanks to you, we have advanced one more step toward salvation. With just a little more help from you, we can prevent the end of the world. Of course, the destroyed laboratory must first be restored.]”

Restore the lab? That had never been part of the game… Then again, I supposed we had destroyed the testing site before it was supposed to be destroyed.

“[So?]” I pressed.

“[Warriors of the fallen empire, I have only one more request to make of you.]”

“[Say it.]”

Honestly, it was not a story I particularly needed to hear.

Because although the framework of the story had changed a little and there were some differences, the core was the same. To summarize briefly, it wanted us to go to the island where the End originated, defeat the boss there, and bring back the byproducts in exchange for its help.

“[Fine. We’ll do that.]”

[I knew you would answer like that, hope of humanity.]

At some point, we had been promoted from warriors of the empire to humanity’s hope, but I wasn’t especially concerned about that. Arta soon said something far more important.

[Ah, and a little while ago, I saw a human at the origin of the End who had the same mark as you.]

“You mean this?”

I showed it the emblem of the Anabada Clan that I had, and Arta confirmed it.

[Yes. That symbol.]

“Was it a woman? With red hair?”

[That is correct. Is she your companion?]

“Yeah, she is my companion.”

At my answer, Arta showed a truly meaningful reaction.

[Hmm. In that case, you had better hurry.]

[That woman looks like she will die soon.]

…A sudden quest had dropped.

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