1.
[You have entered Stage 63.]
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' senses your presence and becomes enraged!]
The sandstorm wrapped around me before settling down.
Like a hand that holds on for a moment only to let go immediately after.
Feeling the scent of sand grains that were thoroughly dried by the sun and polished by the wind, I straightened my back with confidence.
"There's no need to explicitly say it through a message, Snake`ssi, is there?"
I didn't use telepathy.
The opponent is a Constellation that governs all mysteries and secrets.
It would probably be easy for them to spy on unseen places and eavesdrop on unheard sounds. In other words, an expert in wiretapping.
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' shudders its scales at your rudeness!]
Hmm.
I squinted one eye.
"Maybe negotiation is possible. I'm a man who surprisingly gets along well in conversation. Instead of hiding and spending eternity like that, why don't we have a tea time and talk?"
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' rebukes, 'You dare to play your tricks?!']
As expected.
'Determined not to let its own voice be heard even in death.'
I looked around.
'Probably being cautious in case its location gets revealed just by that. Having watched Mutia get defeated by me… It probably doesn't have the courage to show itself in front of me. Now, then… Should we start a game of hide and seek from here?'
Labyrinth.
It was surrounded by towering walls on all sides.
It was dubious whether to refer to them as "walls."
At least among the walls I knew, there was none that seemed to effortlessly touch the stratosphere, soaring high above the sky.
Moreover, the sky was sealed in a dome shape. It looked as if eggshells covered the ground. Climbing the walls would likely only lead to being blocked by the shell of the sky.
'What about the ground?'
Made of wood.
The wooden floor, swirling with patterns similar to snake scales, spread out before me.
I tried swinging my sword as a test, but both the walls and the floor remained intact. They didn't suffer any damage. Perhaps, they were designed to be very difficult to destroy.
"…Is the stage itself a maze?"
I murmured.
"That's troublesome. Snake-ssi will keep changing its position. While I don't know the geography here, Snake-ssi is probably well-versed in it. If the opponent only runs away, I have no way to catch it…"
"You don't need to worry about that."
A voice came from behind me.
The reason I didn't reflexively swing my sword to attack was because I had heard that voice before.
"The Wand Of Ages?"
"Just call me a magician. Because that's what I am."
With a face that seemed like it had never smiled in its lifetime, [The Wand Of Ages] spoke. The magician was yawning, maintaining a distance of about 6 meters from me.
"I'm not particularly great. Just the greatest magician in the world, that's all."
"No, I think that's quite an impressive achievement…"
"Not really. It's not that great. Before becoming a pillar, I alone slaughtered thirteen Dragon Emperors, conquered seven Dragon Kingdoms, and was the first in history to reach the void rupture, the origin and starting point of the world, and plant a flag there. But, I'm just a magician, nothing more."
"…Are you just trying to brag to me?"
"Death King. Do you know why people who are astonishingly successful are astonishingly humble? Once you reach that level, the more humble I become, the more insignificant others feel. Making others feel inferior while keeping myself completely innocent. Only those in power can truly afford to be genuinely humble. In that sense, it's not surprising that successful people are humble. How about it? Did I enlighten you?"
"All I've realized from your words is that your character is rotten, magician…"
"Congratulations. You've already realized a lot."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The magician clapped his hands. Not with his hands, but with his mouth. That is, he made the sound 'clap, clap, clap' by moving his mouth. Listening to the magician's clapping, I instinctively knew that this pillar was also an extraordinary lunatic.
"Let's get back to the point. Why do you say I don't need to worry?"
The magician took out a piece of paper from his pocket and wrote something on it.
The paper read [Main Point].
The magician stuck the paper on the wall, took three steps back, and then three steps forward.
"Ta-da."
"...."
"Returned."
I decided to calmly ignore the events of the past approximately 15 seconds. To deal with a lunatic, one must arm themselves with madness as well.
"So, crazy magician. Why don't I need to worry?"
"Constellations are unfair beings. They are so powerful that ordinary humans can't possibly compete, not just physically, but their very existence is grand."
The magician spoke as if he were the only sane person.
"But even in unfairness, there is a sliver of fairness."
"Fairness?"
"Yes. A riddle, no matter how difficult, is still a riddle because it has an answer. A labyrinth, no matter how complex, is still a labyrinth because it has an exit. A riddle without an answer is just an annoying sequence of sentences, and a maze without an exit is just a series of tiresome places."
The magician muttered expressionlessly.
"In that sense, the lives of 'ordinary humans' that the Constellations look down upon aren't any different."
"...."
"Even if it's a twisted answer. Even if it's a warped exit. Providing answers to a world without them, and opening doors in a life without any, is the role of a Constellation. No. It's the very essence of a Constellation's existence."
In other words.
"Are you saying… 'The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' won't run away?"
"Every palace has its throne. A labyrinth is a palace too. The moment a king flees from his throne, he ceases to be a king."
Is that so.
I nodded and then glared at the walls surrounding us.
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' clenches its teeth.]
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' manifests its power!]
And as if responding to my provocative gaze, the world transformed at that moment.
2.
The world was still made of walls.
Only now, the walls no longer blocked the view and were invisible.
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' requests a covenant with the tower.]
[Designate Sanctuary.]
[Approved.]
The outer layer of the walls melted away.
[From this moment, this place is owned by 'The Eye Living in the Labyrinth'.]
The flesh of the walls that had their shells peeled and melted was made of glass.
Transparent glass windows.
No longer blocked by sight and thus freely visible inside. Whether I intended to or not, I looked at the glass, and there.
"...Mannequins? Figures?"
Numerous dolls were displayed inside the glass walls.
The expression "countless" literally meant infinite.
The glasses were so tall they seemed to touch the sky and so vast that it was impossible to see their end. It was a labyrinth of glass. In each glass window, dolls were densely lined up, forming layers upon layers, wrapping around in multiple folds, arrayed in rows.
[He is the one who hides and reveals, worship him.]
Creak.
The mannequin hanging closest to the glass window suddenly lifted its head.
Its mouth opened.
"He is the one who hides and reveals, worship him."
The mannequins to the left, right, and above the first, which had been stationary, opened their mouths.
"He is the one who hides and reveals, worship him."
Once again, the dolls surrounding them.
"He is the one who hides and reveals, worship him."
From the sides of the straight corridor, from the dead ends of alleys, from the right angles of winding paths, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of mannequins within my sight, and an almost infinite number of mannequins in unseen places, creaked! Beyond the glass windows, creaking, creaked, opening their mouths.
"If you intend to search for me, then try to find me."
A voice layered thousands upon thousands of times.
Each doll had its own distinct voice, creating a cacophony.
"Among these, my true body is hidden."
"...."
Among them.
Within this place, where hundreds of millions, or perhaps even more, dolls were displayed, 'The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' was hiding.
I smiled slightly.
"For a game of hide and seek, this seems overly disadvantageous for the seeker."
"This is still a fair game, believe it or not."
A doll displayed on the glass wall to my right moved its lips.
"If you cannot find me, then simply admit defeat and leave. Or, you may wander forever in my Glass Palace!"
The dolls each had their own characteristics.
Some dolls were almost like life-sized figures, no, they were so detailed they could be mistaken for real. They had faces. They had eyes. They looked so vivid as if they could breathe any moment, yet their expressions remained unchanged as if time had stopped.
Other dolls were no different from mannequins. Wooden dolls. Faceless, expressionless marionettes with their joints exposed.
The level of detail varied among the dolls. From perfect finished products to those that seemed barely touched by a carving knife, numerous puppet dolls hung by threads, each striking a different pose.
There was one thing.
"I am the murderer who killed the child next door."
Every doll was holding a sign.
"I deceived my best friend."
That was their commonality.
"I had an affair with a priest from the temple."
"I am the one who plotted the poisoning of the Duke of Mihu."
"I killed my father."
"I hate the noble who took me in."
"I colluded with the enemy of my lord and led to the downfall of my family."
The signs held by the dolls all had different contents.
Some were serious, others trivial, but…
"...All secrets."
I easily realized what the signs meant.
"Things people don't want to show others. Classified information they wish to keep hidden. Everyone has at least one secret written here. With that, you can infer the identity of the person."
"Indeed, you catch on quickly."
Creak-creak.
A puppet in front of me opened its mouth. The noise of its creaking joints was probably [The Eye Living in the Labyrinth]'s intended mockery.
"These are all individuals who once wished upon me. At least once, they have leaned on my power. Compared to you, who has just became the constellation, my domain is vast!"
"I don't really desire to create a world as monstrous as this…"
Hamustra was a grand library. Mutia, a sand temple. And Hishmith Kritz, a glass exhibition.
"What kind of wishes do you usually grant?"
"[Please, tell me the weakness of that bastard I hate.]"
"...."
"[Make sure no one finds out what I did.] [Please.] [Let me kill that person without getting caught by anyone.] [Even if they dig into my past, make sure they don't find out my secrets.] [About that summer incident.] [Make it seem like I'm completely innocent.]"
Creak, creak.
Seven mannequins simultaneously let out a sneer.
"The wishes deep in everyone's hearts are precisely my domain. You humans have many secrets you wish to reveal, but even more that you wish to hide!"
Hishmith Kritz.
The Eye Living in the Labyrinth.
Keywords: snake, egg, labyrinth, secret, riddle, paradox, maintaining and securing secrets.
Locks and keys.
Exposure.
"Of course, I keep the secrets as the humans wish. Under my power, they enjoy the blessing of not having their most dreaded secrets exposed, but the secrets they hide are blatantly displayed here!"
I nodded.
I understood.
"That's why you could be related to my skill's [Trauma Penalty]."
The seven mannequins simultaneously tilted their heads.
"Hmm?"
"A person's past is indeed a collection of secrets. The deepest wounds held in the past are the most exquisite keys to understanding that person."
I took a deep breath and continued.
"The Tower Master told me that this power originates from [Manseng], and if one traces it back, it reaches their ancestor who was an apostle of Hamustra. At the same time, my skill intersects with your power in the aspect of [Peeking]."
The mannequins burst into laughter.
"Aha, indeed! Correct! Yes, a person's past is [memory] and thus [story], but at the same time, it is also a [secret]. You have splendidly exposed it."
From the corner of my vision, a mannequin creaked, raising its hand.
"A reward must be given to the wise revealer."
Wooden fingers pointed somewhere.
"Rejoice. I shall bestow upon you my little gift."
"Is it a hint to where you are?"
"You will see."
I followed.
In the direction pointed by the finger, another mannequin was there, and it too raised a finger to point somewhere else, leading me to repeat the same process sixteen times.
And then.
"...."
I hesitated.
At the final destination, I momentarily stopped.
"How do you find it, young star?"
Through the thin glass, a doll moved its lips.
The marionette's appearance was intricate.
It was a voice I knew well, a face I was familiar with.
"Don't you wish to know this child's secret?"
There.
A doll that looked exactly like the Crusader was on display.