Translator: Marctempest
Editor/Proofreader: TempWane
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Chapter 82: Landfill Maze (4)
I placed my hand on one side of the maze wall and moved forward.
I recalled hearing about this method for solving mazes on the internet.
However, it was useless here.
“······This is bad.”
The terrain changed constantly.
Walls disappeared or appeared anew, and the maze altered its form moment by moment.
Come to think of it, this maze had such a feature.
“But Quellière.”
Nell’s voice came unexpectedly.
“What is it?”
“How do we escape from here? Is there a way out of this maze?”
“···Well.”
I answered her reasonable question vaguely.
She tilted her head in confusion.
“Hmm······?”
Looking at her, I rummaged through my memory again.
Then, I corrected myself.
“There is a way.”
Escaping the maze was possible as long as you found the ‘key.’
Unless you had overwhelming power to destroy the anomaly itself, that was the only solution.
But how could we find it in such a vast place?
“Hmm.”
For now, regrouping was the priority.
If we increased our numbers, we could divide the search.
I took my hand off the wall and continued walking.
Behind me, Lucia and the Church soldiers busily followed.
“Hmm······ What’s this~?”
Sigina, who’s ears have been twitching, suddenly stiffened.
“What’s this······? What’s going on~?”
“What is it? What’s wrong with you?”
“Oh······ Ah! Ahhh!”
Ignoring Nell’s scolding, she turned to us. Her fluttering ears and wide-open lips signaled alarm.
She seemed about to shout something, but it wasn’t necessary.
Boom──!
An explosion roared.
The catastrophe answered in her stead.
Amid the noise, dust, sandstorms, and a significant tremor swept through.
“Whoa! It’s chaos!”
“What is happening?!”
People leaned against the walls, covering their ears.
Even in that moment, the shockwaves didn’t stop.
Sigina’s keen sense of hearing caught the threat.
The source seemed to be far beyond us······.
“Is this another anomaly?! Even if it’s at a distance, this impact is-”
“······This is no ordinary disturbance.”
Lucia and Dewade’s faces hardened.
I stared straight ahead into the dense dust storm. The chaos lay beyond this point.
“We need to check it out.”
A strange flow of energy.
A strong premonition surged within me.
*
······Some time ago, in a clearing filled with the corpses of the dead.
“Do you remember me?”
When the calamity remained silent, Chandrafail asked again.
He exuded an air of fearlessness, almost arrogantly.
The imperial soldiers wondered who he was and what he was thinking.
“······Do you know anything about him?”
“I apologize, Your Highness. I’ve never seen this man before. With such formidable energy, I would have heard of him······.”
Artan and Harold were no different.
The frigid silence and knife-like stillness persisted, as the Black Knight spoke calmly.
“Do you remember-”
【I remember. The Black Knight of the Goddess.】
Finally, the calamity responded to his persistence.
Its voice was as dark as the abyss. Mahabharata’s protruding eye quivered indifferently.
【But, knight.】
The Black Calamity and the Black Knight.
From their hue to their presence and attitude, they were similar in a way.
“What is it?”
But there was one distinct difference.
The calamity was darker, more ominous, and far more savage.
【How dare you. How dare you stand before me.】
“···What?”
【And how dare you gaze upon me with such eyes!】
The calamity pierced through the knight’s helmet with its words.
The moment Chandrafail’s eyes widened in shock, the calamity stirred.
The atmosphere shifted dramatically.
【Know your place! No goddess will embrace you here!】
As a dangerous aura began to rise.
Dark crimson tendrils lashed out in all directions.
Boom! Crack-crack-crack─!
It was the signal flare that marked the beginning of battle.
“It’s an attack by the Calamity!”
“Arghhh!”
The crimson and black tendrils, born of malice given form, tore through the battlefield.
The destruction they caused was on another level—breaking the ground, crushing soldiers, and tearing apart knights’ armor.
As if breaking free from petrification, the imperial army began to move.
“Surround it! Maintain distance between each other!”
“Where’s the mage? We need the mage!”
There was no time to succumb to fear.
They had to fight, no matter the outcome—life or death, that was all they could do.
“Your Highness! Please retreat. I will handle this!”
“No, Sir Harold! At this moment, I am not the Crown Prince but a knight!”
After all, they had come to subdue this “Enemy of the World.”
Status held no meaning in the face of such a battle.
Separated from the main force, the Black Knight moved alone.
“As expected of the Black Calamity. Truly a testament to its malevolence.”
Yet, despite the rare emotion in his voice, there was no fear.
Instead, a shiver of exhilaration coursed through him.
Sensing it, Chandrafail drew his demon blade and charged forward.
“This may become my grave… but.”
Retreat was not an option.
Facing the massive shroud of malice as if it were a curtain, he slashed through its edge as he always did.
─────!
A terrible sound echoed as the tendrils surged.
The Black Knight barely dodged and continued his attack.
“Sir Harold! The formation—!”
While Chandrafail fought a grueling battle, the situation on the other side was even worse.
The relentless onslaught of tendrils showed no mercy, causing the formation to collapse and plunging them into chaos.
“The formation is breaking! It’s too much to handle!”
“…We have no choice. Focus all attacks in one area! Follow me!”
Even so, the imperial army fought back, led by the Crown Prince and the Sword Master.
They, too, had no room to retreat.
“Yes! Follow his lead!”
Everyone already knew.
The Calamity was on a completely different level.
However, recognizing this truth and devising a path forward seemed to spark a faint glimmer of hope.
“…Calamity!”
Suddenly, an intruder—though an ally in the fight—intervened with a decisive strike.
Chandrafail’s swordsmanship, Harold’s valiant effort, and Artan’s commanding leadership.
Together, these combined to bolster the resolve and morale of the imperial army.
The scene was a sight to behold.
But they remained unaware.
【…】
The Calamity’s emotions, unmoved from the beginning, remained untouched.
Its gaze, cold as though observing insignificant insects, told the truth.
There was no retreat anymore.
For preparations were complete.
【Insects… Scurrying about so incessantly.】
A sinister energy surged behind the Calamity.
To it, their efforts were nothing but an irritation.
Indeed, neither the Sword Master nor the Black Knight were its match.
The insects had to be eradicated in one sweep.
It began to gather its power.
【But this ends here.】
A suffocating pressure weighed upon them.
Startled soldiers looked up to the sky.
High above the labyrinth’s ceiling, a black sphere had formed.
Rumble—Rumble—Rumble—!
It was a massive rock.
The imperial soldiers’ eyes widened in shock.
“…”
The manifestation of the authority: “Dark Meteoric Strike.”
Before they could even react, the meteor descended.
A torrent of destruction swept across the area with unparalleled force.
“Hurry, activate a barrier—”
─────!
Though they tried desperately, it was not enough.
Layer upon layer of barriers shattered like glass, and the shockwave roared like thunder.
“Arghhh!”
“Gyaaah!”
The ground in many places caved in completely.
Soldiers fell, torn apart by the fierce winds, and crushed like insects.
Screams filled the air.
“Your Highness!”
The Sword Master barely withstood the shock, but Artan, struck directly, was flung away.
Thus, with a single authority, devastation was wrought.
Now humanity came to know defeat and despair.
None would escape alive from here.
No one, at all.
“······.”
Yet, there was still someone moving.
The Black Knight, Chandrafail.
Facing the meteor head-on without fear, he was already a wreck.
Had the Mage Corps not diminished its power, he would have perished long ago.
“······Ugh.”
The surroundings were utter chaos.
The calamity was stronger than imagined—and growing stronger.
Victory was out of reach.
Anyone else would have collapsed, but he walked.
He pressed forward.
“······Even if I die here.”
His voice cracked, as though his tongue were dry.
His pupils were blurry, but his gaze was unwavering.
What slumbered within him was the will to fight.
This was a characteristic written by a creator and his true essence.
The soldiers stared blankly at him, their gazes following.
All of them shared a look of incomprehension.
“You will remember me.”
Crack—
At last, he charged.
The creak of his scorched armor and the weighty sound of his footsteps.
Amid the dissonance that reflected the situation, his sword struck.
【······.】
But there is no avoiding fate.
The calamity swung a palm-sized swirl of air.
A casual swing.
An indifferent motion, as if swatting away a fly,
The Black Knight was flung away powerlessly.
Boom! Crash—!
When he slammed into the wall, a cloud of dust gently settled.
He lay there, staring at the sky.
“······.”
Perhaps he had been hit in the wrong spot—his body was numb.
He needed rest, and he accepted it.
He had been defeated.
It was the predetermined outcome.
“Is this the end?”
Muttering lowly, he closed his eyes quietly.
He had never thought about death before, but maybe he should have, just once.
What would become of him now?
To find out, he waited.
He waited and waited, but as nothing happened, he cautiously opened his eyes.
“Chandrafail.”
“······.”
And he froze.
There was a familiar face—shadows cast over it and brilliant hair resembling the eyes.
“Once again, you’re doing something reckless.”
A voice as cold as frost, one he had heard countless times.
For some reason, this voice, faintly lingering as though it had been a long while, felt incredibly welcome.
He let out a breathless laugh.
“······Hah.”
It seemed it was not yet his time to die.