Translator: Marctempest
Editor/Proofreader: TempWane
—
Chapter 79: Landfill Maze
After a fierce battle, the fight came to an end.
The result was a decisive victory for the Imperial Army.
The land, filled with grudges, saw restless movements of lesser gods, more active than usual, but they were no match for the tempered legion.
When the final monster fell,
Thud-thud!
Artan shook off the blood from his beloved sword.
The intense skirmish at the front line left his spirit armor dirtied.
“This won’t do.”
He frowned but couldn’t help it.
Battles would continue again and again, and he had to prepare to get dirty as many times as needed.
He needed to let go of his dignity as the Crown Prince.
As he shook his head, Harold’s voice reached him.
“Your skills are improving day by day.”
It was a voice filled with admiration.
Artan turned to look at him.
“You flatter me.”
“Not at all. Your Highness seems to sharpen yourself with every ordeal, like a sculpture being refined.”
Unlike the other soldiers, Harold’s clothes were clean.
It wasn’t because he didn’t fight. He had fought more valiantly than anyone, and his appearance proved his skill.
Artan asked in return.
“A sculpture?”
“Yes. Truly, you possess the qualities of a hero. It is a fate that inevitably demands growth.”
Harold’s words were sincere.
The Crown Prince, startled for a moment, sank into deep thought.
“…A hero, you say.”
An awe-inspiring resonance.
It was the dream he had wished for as a naïve child, but was it still the same now?
At least, he no longer needed honor or wealth.
What he desired was peace for the world and…
Her smile.
It was a goal more challenging than anything else.
“If I can achieve that.”
Only then would he be worthy of being called a hero.
He murmured her name softly.
“…Quellière.”
Where could she be now?
The continent was in chaos.
If she, so kind and compassionate, was anywhere, she would not stay idle.
“Could she possibly be here too…”
The thought crossed his mind, but he shook his head.
It was unknowable, and even if he knew, his duty would remain unchanged.
She and the Black Calamity.
Those two transcendent beings were clearly opposed to each other.
One hurdle was overcome.
It was time to move forward again.
“Let’s resume, Sir Harold.”
“Understood, Your Highness.”
Harold nodded and signaled to a soldier holding a whistle. The soldier blew it with vigor.
Pwoo-ooo-oo!
A sound signaling their advance.
The soldiers, grasping the meaning instantly, readied themselves as Artan kept his gaze fixed ahead.
“…Hmm?”
Something unusual occurred.
The path was blocked. No, a dead end had suddenly appeared. What had been an open plain had inexplicably transformed into what resembled an indoor space.
Artan blinked.
He stared blankly at the wall obstructing the path and instinctively deduced.
“Space has… shifted?”
It was an unbelievable statement.
But he had no choice but to believe it.
The surroundings he slowly observed were entirely different from moments ago.
The terrain and environment.
The structure had all been distorted in a bizarre and supernatural phenomenon, one that far exceeded even grand magic.
“…Halt. Everyone, stop for now.”
Swallowing dryly, he decided to pause.
They needed to investigate the cause of the phenomenon.
“What is this─ Yes, yes! Your Highness.”
“Do not panic!”
Responses filled with confusion came back to him.
The voices were noticeably fewer than before.
Additionally, there were voices he could no longer hear.
Artan swiftly surveyed his vicinity, his face hardening.
“Sir Harold…”
The Sword Master was gone.
*
A short while earlier, the Liberation Army of the Holy Kingdom, pursuing the Imperial Army, was locked in battle.
Sigina, along with Lucia and the priests, barely managed to fend off the monsters.
“Haa… haa…”
It wasn’t easy.
She wasn’t weak by any means, but neither did she possess overwhelming martial prowess.
From the start, her rise to a Gold-Rank Adventurer had more to do with her sharp ears than brute strength.
In exploration or adventure, having keen hearing is a great advantage.
“Somehow, we managed to deal with it.”
“Yes… haa. Thanks for the help~”
Even in Lucia’s curt voice, there was a trace of relief.
Sigina, expressing sincere gratitude, spoke.
“With this, we should be safe for a while, right?”
She said this because the number of beasts they had faced wasn’t small. Lucia nodded immediately.
“Probably. No matter how disastrous the situation is, they can’t keep sending monsters of this caliber.”
“Right, right? Phew… at least we’ll have a moment to breathe.”
Sigina let out a shallow sigh.
Perhaps that statement was some kind of trigger.
At just the right timing, a whistle echoed through the air.
Puuuuuuuuu—!
It signaled that they were moving out again.
She reignited her resolve, thinking about the vast sum of money and the friend who had become a god.
“Let’s do this! Let’s see this through to the end!”
—That’s when the anomaly occurred.
Still clenching her fist and smiling, Sigina looked around.
“…Huh? What?”
Her eyes blinked rapidly.
Was she perhaps dreaming?
Or had she fallen victim to some kind of magic?
The abruptly transformed terrain spurred such thoughts.
As she felt the unfamiliar earthen walls, she muttered.
“W-what’s going on here…?”
But the expected response did not come.
She quickly looked around.
The number of people was still considerable but noticeably reduced.
There wasn’t enough time to notice that detail.
More than that, Sigina was shocked by something else.
Lucia was gone!
“…Uh. Huh? Lucia? Lucia!”
No matter how much she called, Lucia did not appear.
Did this mean she wasn’t in the vicinity?
What on earth had happened… as she agonized, she heard a foreboding rumble.
Thud! Thud-thud—thud!
Footsteps that couldn’t possibly belong to a human.
They all approached at once.
Her extraordinary hearing, far beyond the average person’s, detected the looming threat.
The surroundings, still unaware of the danger, were in disarray.
Sigina shouted urgently.
“Something’s coming! Everyone, be careful!”
*
The number of approaching undead was at least in the hundreds. On top of that, they were imbued with a surplus of vitality, making them far stronger than usual.
Of course, our side was absurdly overpowered, and their efforts amounted to little.
Boom! Rumble—!
The hastily constructed frontlines crumbled as quickly as they had formed.
But there was no time to savor the aftermath of the battle.
The space had flipped over immediately.
“…..”
The ominous energy and colors of the landfill remained the same.
But the terrain and structure had changed into something resembling a “maze.”
Gazing at the walls and branching paths that had appeared everywhere, I muttered.
“…This is.”
I was momentarily flustered but quickly grasped the situation.
It was a phenomenon I recognized.
A setting from the Four Seasons War that had been dormant in my memory.
“So… this is the ‘Landfill Maze.'”
It was one of the anomalous phenomena of the burial grounds.
A phenomenon caused by divine power, likely spread by the calamity.
Then the flow became clearer.
That creature tampering with the obelisk was a route present in the Four Seasons War as well.
“In the setting, divine relics are extremely dangerous… the results vary depending on timing and the calamity’s condition.”
Everything, from success or failure to the amount of power obtained, was determined.
I massaged my temples as I continued my thoughts.
When the creature unlocks the divine relic trigger, the final boss battle becomes the hardest.
From the looks of this situation, divine power had spread significantly, whether the attempt succeeded or failed.
“Even if it spread across the entire continent, this place is undeniably the most affected.”
The burial grounds.
One could say that the entirety of this place had been permeated by divine power, and naturally, that incomprehensible power attracted mysteries.
This time, the place was a Landfill Maze.
The maze was a magical space that had existed in ancient times, recreated by the obelisk where time and history were inscribed.
“What is this?!”
A voice filled with confusion.
It was Nell, with sweat-soaked hair clinging to her face.
“Suddenly, the space…!”
I had already regained my composure, but for someone experiencing this for the first time, being startled was natural.
I spoke firmly.
“Calm down.”
“!”
Her shoulders flinched.
She turned her small head cautiously, and her red eyes, which found me, reflected relief.
“…Quellière! Do you know what’s going on here?”
“Yes. This is one of those magical anomalies.”
“Magical anomaly…?”
“What that means is—”
I gave her a brief explanation as she tilted her head in confusion.
Once the principle was understood, it wasn’t hard to grasp.
As expected, after hearing my explanation, Nell quickly regained her composure.
“A phenomenon caused by divine power…? So, that massive surge of divine power trapped us in this maze?”
“Divine power has no will of its own. While it could occur naturally, given the timing, it’s probably…”
My sideways gaze lifted to scrutinize the ceiling of the maze.
As Nell swallowed nervously, I spoke.
“The work of the Calamity.”
“The Calamity… That monster again?!”
Her trembling eyelids hinted at her tension.
Suddenly, she looked around, startled.
“There’s no one here!”
Then she shouted.
“Everyone is gone! Quellière, it’s just you and me!”
“I know.”
“…Oh? Oh, right?”
“Yes.”
Before explaining, I had already confirmed the state of the others.
Though, there wasn’t much need for confirmation.
Right now, it was just Nell and me in this place.
“We’ve been separated. It’s an additional effect of the Landfill Maze.”
“Will they be okay? Can we meet them again?”
“Yes. As long as they’re alive. ‘Random transference’ only disrupts connections, so there’s no problem.”
It was a tactic to prevent too many people from gathering in one place.
Still, something felt strange.
There were only six of us, so why did the Calamity resort to this method?
“That doesn’t make sense.”
The creature couldn’t control the obelisk freely. This phenomenon was caused by brute-forcing its power, like setting off a bomb.
If it were willing to risk its safety, it would have chosen a more effective method.
Not dividing us and trapping us in the maze like this.
Which meant…
“…Artan must have already arrived.”
The target wasn’t us.
Considering the might of the Imperial Army, it wasn’t surprising for the creature to resort to trickery.
However, that didn’t mean the creature would lose to the Imperial Army… Most likely, the Calamity’s next goal was annihilation.
We needed to move as well.
“First, we must regroup with the others.”
The area we were in was like a room, blocked on all sides with only one open passage.
It was a common structure for a maze, divided into multiple sections.
While dim, it wasn’t too dark inside.
“Yes, you’re right. I think so too.”
“Let’s hurry.”
Nell followed behind me as I took the lead.
We exited the room and walked through a hallway veiled in dusty fog.
Step—step—
The ground beneath us was solid, and the sound resonated against the desolate earthen walls.
Boom!
With limited visibility and an empty space, the booming sound was sharper than ever.
Boom! Boom! Booooom—!
It wasn’t human.
It was undoubtedly the sound of a monster.
We stopped, and Nell asked.
“Is this also caused by divine power or something?”
“No. The ‘Landfill Maze’ simply creates a labyrinth. It doesn’t spawn monsters.”
These were creatures that already existed in the buried grounds.
The random transference affected both humans and monsters indiscriminately. Even now, the noise continued.
Boom! Boom! Booooom—!
The approaching footsteps were now close.
Avoiding them was impossible.
We had no choice but to ready ourselves for battle.
Amidst the tension, we glared toward the source of the noise, and just as suspected, a massive silhouette appeared.
However, I also noticed smaller figures and faint footsteps I hadn’t been aware of before.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Kyahhhhh!”
They were people.
People running away from the monsters.
At the forefront, braided hair fluttered wildly.
“Help us! Help us!”
“…”
At that moment, I realized two things.
The massive monsters chasing them were ogres, powerful magical beasts, and among the fleeing individuals was someone I knew.
“I’m going to dieee! The monsters are chasing me!”
The woman with brown hair flying in the wind was Sigina, the gold-rank adventurer I had parted ways with before.