Wave Handler and Mimicker.
Turan tilted his head at these two titles he was hearing for the first time.
Could these possibly be names of bloodlines that hadn't manifested in him yet?
But if it was a combination of two bloodlines, it would mean he was of great house lineage...
[Will you enter?]
The question repeated.
At that moment, Turan realized the eyeball's gaze was directed at his chest and took out the holy relic, waving it to the side.
As expected, the gate's eyeball moved back and forth.
When he put it down, the voice spoke in a monotone.
[Error, Wave Handler, Mimicker, lost.]
It seemed Wave Handler and Mimicker weren't abilities Turan was born with, but powers that the original owner of the holy relic had possessed.
For some unknown reason, that door had combined them with Turan's bloodline in its judgment...
"What are Wave Handler and Mimicker? And what is this door?"
Instead of answering, the eyeball only looked down at him arrogantly with its eye as big as a water droplet.
Despite not even having eyelids, its contemptuous attitude was blatantly apparent.
Turan picked up the holy relic again and asked.
"Tell me about Wave Handler and Mimicker."
[Wave Handler, Type 1, underwater breathing, underwater body enhancement, fluid manipulation. Mimicker, Type 1, flow detection, absorption and mimicry.]
Indeed, it seemed to mean it wouldn't deal with anyone who didn't have four bloodlines.
Moreover, even with the holy relic, he had never felt like he gained abilities like underwater breathing or fluid manipulation - perhaps it only served as identification without being able to reproduce the abilities?
But the flow detection ability seemed to function, so there might be some way to use it...
"What are you?"
[Gate Spirit.]
As expected, this eyeball's identity was something like the librarian.
Though everything from its appearance to personality was far more inhuman in comparison.
While the librarian was only slightly different in emotion but otherwise no different from humans, this gate spirit felt much more rigid.
It was as if it only recited pre-determined content matched to questions.
"What is this labyrinth? What was it made for, and how do I escape?"
[Night Hunter's Labyrinth, becoming the Night Hunter by one with the correct four types slaying the leader, escape route opens upon slaying the leader.]
Becoming the Night Hunter - could it mean becoming a god?
Just as Turan's eyes widened in surprise at this unimaginable story, the eyeball embedded in the door suddenly started spinning in place.
Its low, thick voice became increasingly distorted.
[Error.]
[Hunter, Pursuer, Wave Handler, Mimicker.]
[2 types error, Shadow, Alchemist, absent.]
[4 types satisfied.]
[Error, does not match Night Hunter's types.]
[Labyrinth opening error?]
[Error, cannot close, internal personnel remaining.]
[Unauthorized personnel entry.]
[Contact creator.]
[Error, creator absent.]
The gate's eyeball started spouting incomprehensible words on its own.
Just as Turan took a step back at the dangerous atmosphere, suddenly the eye's iris split vertically and glared at him sharply.
[Self-judgment. Labyrinth leader deployment, instruction, eliminate remaining internal personnel.]
With those final words, the door opened by itself, and a monster inside was caught by the holy relic's senses.
It was as if some barrier that had been blocking something had disappeared.
'That is...'
Judging by the silhouette visible beyond the darkness, it looked similar to the other monsters except for being about twice as tall.
The difference was in the amount of magical power flowing inside.
Even at a glance, it felt like it had over ten times the powerful flow of its kin.
The giant monster, the labyrinth's leader, staggered to its feet and spoke to Turan.
[You]
[Are not]
[The Night Hunter]
[Fakes]
[Must die]
A woman's voice echoing.
It was exactly the same as the auditory hallucination he had heard when first entering this place.
The moment he confirmed the opponent was hostile, Turan immediately threw the stone he had prepared.
A strike with sufficient magical power infused while spinning it several times.
The attack that could instantly pierce between the eyes and instantly kill ordinary monsters was deflected with a dull sound.
'This much?'
He immediately tried throwing both a fireball and lightning bolt, but these too were insufficient to inflict effective damage.
Though it seemed to have reduced its magical power slightly, indicating some damage was done, it was far from enough to take its life.
The monster took large strides forward while giggling.
[That tickles]
It seemed this one too, like its relatively smaller kin, possessed overwhelming physical abilities compared to its magical power.
Realizing he had no chance one-on-one, Turan immediately turned and fled.
[Stop right thereeeee!]
Thud, thud, heavy footsteps accompanied the roar.
Despite having gained quite some distance while invisible, the large monster was charging toward him with huge strides.
Meaning it could clearly recognize his position.
Not only that-
[□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■-!]
The monsters that had been leisurely wandering the labyrinth except when meeting humans were all screaming and running around everywhere at once.
While being chased by the large monster called the labyrinth's leader, it was impossible to avoid all of those creatures too.
"Ugh!"
One monster jumped out from opposite Turan, swinging its five hook claws.
He raised one arm to defend while maximizing the power of his Guardian magic device.
Squelch, the hook claws dug into his forearm but only slightly pierced the skin without inflicting critical damage.
While defending the opponent's attack with one hand, he simultaneously drew his dagger with the opposite hand and slit its throat.
[□□□!]
While an ordinary dagger couldn't pierce the creature's tough body even with magical power infused, Haram's dagger was a magic device, though not particularly powerful.
As the monster with its neck half-cut staggered back gurgling, Turan ran through the pitch-black labyrinth again while lost in thought.
'Night Hunter's Labyrinth...'
A place where one could become a god - who on earth created such a blasphemous and strange place?
What immediately came to mind was the Limping Goddess, a member of the Prea god-folk.
But why would they need a building that makes gods?
"Eek."
Before he could get deeply lost in thought, another monster immediately rushed at him, and Turan quickly slid between its legs like slipping through before bouncing up with magical power and running.
The situation wasn't good for deep contemplation.
But he couldn't just keep running and fleeing like this forever either...
'What's certain is that I need to hunt that thing.'
If the eye embedded in the door was to be believed, that would naturally be necessary, and even if not, he needed to eliminate an enemy that kept endlessly pursuing him.
While the giant monster's speed wasn't particularly fast, he at least couldn't sleep or rest while it was chasing him.
But as was clear just from briefly engaging it, it was an opponent he had no chance against alone.
The solution that came to mind was the existence of Ferga's group, whom he had relied on these past few days.
Of course, if he made them clash with that monster, they would suffer many casualties too...
But weren't they already in an irreversible relationship anyway?
Having been mistaken for an assassin, Turan could neither show himself to Ferga's group to become companions nor survive together with them.
Considering Ferga's personality that he had observed secretly, even if they cooperated temporarily, it wouldn't be strange for him to backstab at any time.
In that case, it would be better to properly make use of them.
'Let's fight together, cousin brother.'
==
"Aagh!"
"Yoznil!"
Ferga shouted the young man's name as he fell with a scream and threw his chakram.
The upper body of the monster pouncing on him was sliced off.
"Status?"
"He's injured! Combat ineffective!"
"Ask Ubo to heal him!"
Ubo, a noble of healing bloodline, approached the injured person with a tired expression and extended his hand.
As magical power seeped in, the wound that had been split from shoulder to chest began to heal.
"Recovered?"
"For now."
As Ferga spun the chakram on his finger to attack the next enemy, he realized no more enemies were visible in his field of view.
The noble with Berserker bloodline who held a huge axe muttered quietly.
"Is it over...?"
"Don't let your guard down, everyone. They might come again."
Dozens of monsters had suddenly attacked Ferga's group while they were resting as usual.
Though they were getting used to fighting in here, even nobles couldn't handle over a hundred monsters attacking simultaneously from all directions.
While thankfully no one had died thanks to the strongest Ferga's intense efforts, everyone showed clear signs of exhaustion and fatigue.
"Wait, I hear some strange sound?"
"What sound?"
"Like thud, thud..."
Before long, that sound began reaching everyone's ears.
The sensation of something impossibly huge approaching...
"Sh-should we run?"
"Don't be stupid. Where do you think we could go? Prepare to fight!"
As he said, in a situation where they couldn't even tell if there were walls ahead or not, the chances of successful escape were extremely low.
If they were to face an enemy, it would be better to at least not have their backs against a wall.
At the very least, they wouldn't have to worry about being crushed by its tremendous mass.
As seven nobles excluding those who were injured or had consumed too much magical power prepared for battle, a huge being suddenly appeared through the darkness before them.
One noble exclaimed in astonishment at the sight.
"What..."
The giant monster looked similar to its brethren, but its height was four to five meters, nearly touching the ceiling.
The amount of mucous liquid flowing from its body was also several times greater, leaving a trail of sticky fluid behind it.
[□■, □■, □■-]
A bizarre cry similar to the smaller monsters, but rather than just screaming, it seemed to be speaking some incomprehensible language.
For some reason, Ferga's group could intuitively understand the meaning of those words.
"Night Hunter, Silver Sun, Wrath of Bitter Cold, halflings, enemies of the children... kill all..."
"What is it saying?"
What could this being be, expressing hatred while speaking the names of Prea gods?
Before they could express their doubts, the monster immediately stretched out its right arm.
What they hadn't expected was that since it was twice as tall, its arms and claws were also twice as long.
That attack range was beyond what everyone had thought.
"Kuhek-"
"Ubo!"
"Lord!"
Ubo, the noble of healing bloodline, and Galten Rosmund, the lord of Banipel, each had their chest and abdomen pierced.
Seeing this, Ferga's group also hurriedly launched counterattacks.
The chakram filled with tremendous magical power sliced through the right forearm flesh holding the two, and a long arrow struck between its eyes.
Flames hit its chest, and a giant arrow of light pierced its neck.
But the monster ignored all attacks harming its body and brought the two people caught on its hook claws to its saw-like teeth, crunching and swallowing them.
[■■!]
Delicious!
As the meaning of those words transmitted, Ferga's group trembled in fear.
The enemy before them was clearly equal to the mythical-grade magical beasts they had only heard about.
A being that might appear once every few decades, that only experts at the level of house heads or just below could face...
"Wh-what do we do, Ferga!"
"We can't escape anyway! Attack!"
With his shout, he threw the chakram, and the metal disc curved to dig into where it had previously sliced the giant monster's arm.
With the power of the magical power contained within, the chakram dug into the flesh and continued rotating without stopping, grinding away at bone.
A loud grinding sound rang out before a crack, and a huge chunk of flesh fell.
"It worked!"
"As expected of Lord Ferga!"
Rejoicing at having inflicted effective damage for the first time, the nobles launched successive attacks.
Though their attacks weren't as effective as Ferga's, they were enough to steadily chip away at the magical power moving the body.
[□■□!]
That hurts!
With a sharp cry, the left arm flew in again.
Ferga realized the opponent was targeting him and quickly launched his body diagonally.
His cousin brother was in that trajectory.
"Br-brother-"
"Sorry!"
Even while using his cousin as a shield, there wasn't a trace of guilt on Ferga's face.
He threw the chakram again, but this time the monster raised its left hook claw to defend as if refusing to fall for it again.
His cousin brother who had been impaled on the body was directly hit by the chakram and his body was split in two.
"Uooooh!"
At that moment, the noble of Berserker bloodline roared and struck the monster's shin with his huge axe.
A bloodline ability that gained tremendous physical abilities at the cost of losing reason.
Combined with the power of the heavy magic device, the shin was dented and one of the monster's knees buckled.
"We did it!"
"I! Crushed the bastard's knee-"
The celebration was brief as with a boom, the Berserker noble's body flew several dozen meters and disappeared into the darkness.
The enraged monster had kicked him with its other foot.
Only the masterless axe rolled pitifully on the ground.
[□■■□■!]
The battle afterward was like a tug of war.
The giant monster that had lost mobility from its injured leg staggered while swinging its hook claws, and Ferga's group dodged by throwing their bodies here and there while counterattacking to chip away at its stamina.
The inconvenient part was that even during this, small monsters would occasionally rush in, preventing them from fully focusing on hunting the large monster.
Though fortunately, some of the small monsters that rushed in would suddenly turn their gaze to empty air or collapse weakly.
It was assistance from some invisible person, but the battle was too intense for anyone to notice this fact.
"Huff, hah..."
After ten-plus minutes, Ferga looked around while realizing he had little physical or magical power left.
He alone survived.
The others had all met their end either pierced by the giant monster's hooks or ambushed by other small monsters.
Outstanding nobles who would never fall behind anywhere had died like dogs in this unknown space.
'Just what are you doing, and what does this have to do with becoming house head?'
Ferga recalled his grandfather, the godlike head of House Zahar.
If he hadn't listened to his words, he wouldn't have fallen into this hell or lost his friends and vassals...
Even if he survived and escaped from here, he was practically eliminated from the succession competition now.
The relatives of those who died here wouldn't look kindly upon him.
No matter how much he developed his individual abilities, how could he engage in political competition after losing all supporters?
No, none of that mattered.
First he had to survive this place...
"Ah..."
Perhaps from losing too much blood, the moment he staggered from dizziness, hook claws pierced his body.
Blood surged from inside his throat and flowed down his lips, perhaps from internal injuries.
In the moment he sensed death, the monster that had pierced him rolled its eyes as if seeing something else.
[□□□!]
'Fake Night Hunter?'
Why was it looking at - no, who was it speaking to in empty space?
Just as he thought this, a human figure appeared in the previously empty air.
A young man in somewhat exotic traveler's clothing.
The weapon in his two hands was very familiar.
It was the huge, heavy battle axe that could only be used by those with bloodlines specialized in physical combat, like the Berserker bloodline vassal who had followed Ferga.
The gray-haired young man easily swung that heavy weapon and buried it in the battered giant monster's neck.