It was difficult to say how I cleared stage 8.
In actuality, I had already gained consciousness at the beginning of the stage; yet somehow...my body wouldn't move.
I was lying down on a low table, looking up to a dull sky of black and white. Three people sat close on chairs and stared at me with literal blank faces.
It was what I made out to be the forms of my father, my mother, and Alva, my dear daughter.
"Why did you ruin my life?" the young woman by my side asked.
"Why didn't you just kill yourself?" the weary man on the other side followed.
"You should've just let me die." said the little girl.
Calm down. I said to myself, recalling that I was still inside the game. This must be an illusion, or so I'd like to believe.
"I hate you."
"You are my greatest regret."
"You're just using me to fill your void."
How the voices that came out of these fake sounded so real added to the weight of their words. Despite becoming numb to all the hurtful things my parents used to say, the faceless thing that spoke with my daughter's voice lightly chipped at my emotions.
"A revolting mistake that I failed to prevent."
"The embodiment of my life's disintegration."
"A demon devoid of shame and reflection."
They continued on as I fought to move even a pinky, the feeling of desperation prickling my neck with chills.
"A disappointment. A disaster."
"A taxing burden that's worth nothing."
"A cursed blight that infects others."
Move. I beg of you. Please move. I've no time to waste on tears.
"A monster."
"A monster."
"A monster."
—were the last words they uttered in unison before I launched right off the table and broke through something.
*GROOAAARRR*
A deafening roar came out of me as I landed on the dull plain of nothingness. The imposters were nowhere to be seen and I was all alone in a wide, wide plain of blank.
The agony that I didn't want to recognize hindered my breathing and clouded my judgment; agitating me more than I thought it would.
'I...I didn't mean for any of those things to happen. It's not my fault!' I couldn't say whether I was thankful or not that this body couldn't speak nor cry.
'Stop it!' I slapped myself. 'You cannot afford to be weak! Alva must be fighting by herself right now, I must hurry and return.'
It felt like my heart was about to explode with all the guilt I carried brought into the limelight, but I had to persevere. I lived through a cursed life full of misfortune, this was hardly any different.
As I slowly gathered my thoughts, the fake resembling my daughter reappeared.
"You would deny yourself redemption, human?" it spoke in an otherworldly voice, exuding a terrifying aura.
'This is not redemption. It's blind resignation.' I answered with my thoughts as I took a stance, erasing my doubts. 'And you've made the grave mistake of staining my daughter's image, Charlatan.'
Its face contorted and the illusion shook, it seemed like the spell was directly linked to the being's composure.
'For something so adept in breaking minds, I expected you to be more...resilient.'
"Arrogant fool!" it bellowed, the image of the endless plain crumbling down and turning into a fog. The smell of burnt iron returned, the smell of the scorching dunes.
The fog swirled into a cloudy mass of gray, rising high like a thunderstorm. Out came a figure that was humanoid from the torso up and smog in the lower half. Its body was full of warts and heavily malnourished while it wore an opera mask with a despairing expression: green eyes glowing from within in stark contrast to its charcoal skin.
"Your ignorance has brought upon your doom, challenger!" it cackled, the rising smoke on its head puffing.
'You talk too much.'
Dust rippled as I leaped with all my strength, quaking the earth. My claws slashed at the cloud-thing a split second after I jumped, piercing nothing but air.
"You cannot hurt the air, you dimwitted cretin! Someone like you could never hope to win against my glorious self! Muahahaha!" it boasted.
The ground screeched as I landed, stopping to think about what I could do.
"There's no point in thinking! I can hear every plan you try and every strategy you realize."
'Tch. You're quite a chatterbox for a giant steaming lump of fart.'
"Fart—WHAT!??" It said in a flabbergasted tone, the air becoming heavier by the second.
"I WILL END YOU."
If I hadn't moved, I would've been fried to a crisp as lighting struck to where I was standing a second ago. It was a good decision to further invest Units in the physique-related stats, but now I needed something to tear this thing apart.
I was surprised at first after having what was my first closest encounter with actual lightning but dodging the strikes wasn't much of a big deal, my reflexes were now beyond any normal creature from Earth as far as I knew. My mind raced as I searched my memories like an archive of crystal-clear information thanks to the intelligence boost of my first 'Personal Attribute'.
"Stay still, you rat!" it roared, numerous lightning bolts sprouting from its body.
Unbeknownst to him, I was right above his head. To avoid consuming too much energy and going berserk like last time, I focused my thermoregulation ability to apply on just my arms.
The temperature in the dunes was terribly hot, thanks to the constant downpour of volcanic ash. So I wondered:
'What would happen to you if it suddenly turned frigid cold?'
"...huh—!!!"
A wave of cold air blasted downwards. The sudden drop in temperature caused a great amount of steam to form due to condensation, covering quite a radius. I dialed down the intensity of my forced control as both my arms fell off, frostbitten into popsicles.
'Hm. I'm getting hungrier.'
Fibers began to sprout as my arms began to regenerate at a phenomenal speed, convenient if you disregarded the amount of pain I had to go through as it healed.
"W-What kind of sorcery...?? What have you done to me!?"
I stared at the talking puddle of mud with a melted mask. I was still releasing cold air from my body but in better moderation, just enough to keep cloudy here moisturized.
'I have a few questions for you.'
"I would rather die!"
'Don't worry about that, I'll grant you eternal rest after.'
"You can't kill me. It's only a matter of time before you run out of mana and I am restored!"
'I can just freeze then eat you.'
"...it won't work. You can't possibly consume me in my entirety." there was hesitation in its voice.
'Then I guess we're about to find out.' I said with a grim smile that showed the shredder-like interior of my mouth. As soon as I reached the edge of the large puddle, it crystallized.
I was trying to scare it but I never realized how terrifying I actually looked. The fibers of my still healing arms looked like creepy appendages while my eyes glowed in the dim fog produced by my body.
"W-Wait! Please wait!" the mask shrieked from the other side as I stopped midway through the freezing puddle. "M-Maybe...we can come to an arrangement?"
'...what kind?'
"I'll tell you everything you would like to know! Though you may not have realized, I am a Djinn. A very ancient one at that. I've been cast away into this place thousands of years ago. So I guarantee that I can tell you what you want."
'...I'm not sure. What do you want in return?'
"Spare me, please. I'm was just trying to entertain myself, I've been an exile for much too long. I can't even remember the last time I conversed this much with another intelligent race. It's quite rare for humans to end up in this place, see. So I got a bit too excited and I apologize. Please, let me go."
He sure talks a lot...but it might just be a good thing.
'Alright then, Djinn. First, tell me about The Labyrinth.'
"The Labyrinth? What do you mean by...wait. Maybe that's what it's called in this language.
If I were to dumb it down to human comprehension, it's the consciousness created by 'Them of Oldest' tasked to entertain the various gods of the universe. Races are chosen by 'The Labyrinth' to participate as challengers who must succeed in all of its trials to be recognized as a specie worthy of ruling their individual realms.
Otherwise, they would be banished into this hell, and life on that realm would start from scratch once more."
I was dumbfounded from the straight answer the Djinn gave me, unsure whether it was true or just beautifully elaborate bullshit. Then I got chills...recalling the dinosaur I had encountered from before.
'You said realms. Does that mean there are other worlds that can sustain life, like earth?'
"Trillions more, actually. But most of the time only about a hundred realms participate in the 'worthiness event' as each realm differs in their capacity for life."
It made sense. Modern-day science couldn't reach that far into looking for extraterrestrial life and had not much of a clue about how things really are.
'Why are you telling me all this so willingly? Though, I'm still unsure whether you're lying or not. And how do you know I'm human? I don't even look like one at all.'
"I looked into your memories to create that illusion, its a requirement for the spell. Also, this information is practically useless since we can't even escape from this place; so I've nothing to lose."
Hm? Can't escape? But it looks to me like I'll be in this place for a limited amount of time.
...could it be?
'...I might have a way out of here.'
"...PFFT! HAHAHHAHA!" the mask burst into a fit of laughter. "Ahh, that was a good laugh. Thanks, kid. It's been a while since I laughed so genuinely."
'I'm serious. I'll only be here for a limited amount of time and I've gone through stages collecting units and becoming stronger. I thought you looked at my memories..?'
The mask looked at me for a moment and frowned.
"Only fellow challengers can see memories of others with details about The Labyrinth. Oh my days, you're being truthful."
I sighed, continuing.
'And so far, to clear each stage I had to slay the designated mob. In this case, you.'
"...so you were lying! You really are going to kill me after I told you everything."
'I have to.'
"No, you don't! I'm an artifact! Aren't you supposed to collect trinkets like me? And besides, I'm one of the rare pieces that bear intellect and self-awareness."
Artifact? What is he talking about?
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"
I looked away. But If what this thing is saying is true, then maybe I can clear this stage without having to kill it.
"I'd really like to get out here, please. This place is the worst. Make me your artifact or whatever just take me out of here!"
'What's in it for me?'
"If I become your artifact, you'll be able to use my abilities. First of all, Telepathy. That's pretty useful, right? I can also give you Greater Affinity to both Earth and Lightning Magic! And last but not the least, my Mind Prison: Illusion Skill. It's what I used on you before. So, uh, I'm sorry for that. Hehe." It explained, frantically trying to convince me.
I paused for a moment. 'I want your knowledge too. Share everything you know and everything I need to know.'
"You're pretty cautious for someone so young. Though, that's a good trait. Of course, I'll share with you everything I know. It's a small price for being able to leave this place."
'Then, that's all. Now how are we supposed to do this?'
I stepped back, relaxing my body, and thermoregulation with it. After that, the heat of the environment vaporized the muddy Djinn and restored his cloudy form. It made a bit nervous as I felt like I was trusting this chatterbox way too easily.
"Here." The Djinn pulled on its mask, revealing a gold medallion engraved with various writings in place of where the face would be. It floated towards me and landed on my hand.
"This is my True Body. For us artifacts, this is the soul that you humans speak of. It contains our very essence and is our greatest weakness. I am now in your care."
*PING*
¤
[Stage 8 cleared!]
.
[You have conquered 'Djinn Azubasara', an S-grade Artifact! Bonus Units have been rewarded!]
.
[You have acquired 'The Medallion of Azubasara' and have partially gained its attributes!]
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Challenger: Doma Curtis
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Strength: 92 (+50% Boost) ≈ 96pts
Stamina: 81 (+50% Boost) ≈ 96pts
Intelligence: 55 (+30% Boost) ≈ 72pts
Spirit: 52 (+4) = 56pts
Talent: 96pts
.
Personal Attributes:
- [Crystal Clear]
> Intelligence Boost is applied.
.
Affinities:
- [Greater Affinity to Earth Magic]
- [Greater Affinity to Lightning Magic]
.
Artifacts:
- [The Medallion of Azubasara]
.
Units: 218 (+40), (+15) = 273
Power(s):
- [Indomitable]
> 'High Adaptability' attribute is passively activated.
> 'Strength Boost' attribute is applied.
> 'Stamina Boost' attribute is applied.
- [Monarch of The 8th Sin; True Successor]
> 'The Scarecrow's Lust' attribute is passively activated due to the special attribute "True Successor".
.
¤
I sighed. My stats couldn't even be compared to before. I was about to reach the hundreds but I couldn't afford to waste units given that I had no idea what would be waiting for me in the following stages.
This was gonna be a long 12 years.
.