Chapter 10
‘To think I actually beat this thing.’
I really did defeat the Night Fiend alone — a monster whose level had a completely different digit than mine.
Even though I was the one who did it, I could hardly believe it.
Was this proof of how much of a veteran I was? Or was the Blood Mage class simply overpowered beyond what I had imagined?
‘Probably both.’
It was the synergy of those two factors that allowed me to win a fight that should have been impossible by any common sense.
“Haah… I never want to do that again.”
My body ached so badly that I couldn’t even properly enjoy the joy of victory.
While healing my wounds with the Dawn Troll’s blood, I glanced down at the floor.
Lying there was a stick that looked like it had been twisted together from tree roots.
Who would guess that this seemingly random object was actually one of the AAA-grade artifacts?
I picked up the <All-Aspect Torch> I had received as a reward and slowly closed my eyes.
‘If I remember correctly, you’re supposed to pour your will into it and the torch reacts.’
This is so inconvenient.
In the game, you could just press a button and it would handle everything automatically.
Pushing aside my minor complaints, I visualized the image of ‘flame’ in my mind.
In that instant—
Hwarrrk!
A flame flickered to life at the tip of the stick, illuminating the dark interior.
‘Ohh, it actually works.’
After a small exclamation of admiration, I next projected the image of ‘electricity.’
Crackle—!!
The red flame instantly shifted to a violet hue and began sparking.
I licked my lips once, then deployed <Blood Weapon> with my left hand — the one not holding the torch.
A short sword took shape amid the wriggling blood.
‘I wonder if I can enchant weapons made with <Blood Weapon> as well.’
Technically, <Blood Weapon> is categorized as a skill… but on the other hand, it also straddles the line of being an item. That’s my personal take, at least.
I held the short sword horizontally and slowly swept the torch across its blade as if scanning it.
Crackle—!!
The violent sound of electricity rang in my ears like a fanfare.
The blood-red short sword was now completely enveloped in violet lightning.
It worked.
The torch’s effect applied to weapons created with <Blood Weapon> as well.
“…You really are one hell of a monster, Blood Mage…”
It hadn’t been highlighted much until now, but the truth is that almost all of a Blood Mage’s attack skills basically carry a ‘bleeding’ status effect by default.
Anyone unlucky enough to get hit by <Blood Weapon> could end up bleeding out helplessly for several minutes.
And if you added elemental status effects like ‘electrocution’ or ‘burn’ on top of that?
‘If I were on the receiving end… I’d never want to fight someone like that.’
In PvP, it would be an undisputed first-pick ban.
Not that it mattered much, since I was the only person playing the game.
‘Anyway, it was worth all the suffering to fight that Night Fiend.’
Deeply satisfied, I suddenly realized I had gotten my priorities backward.
What I had truly come here to obtain was something else entirely — the thing currently emitting dark currents in the corner.
<Withered Moss>
‘This is it.’
The item that marked the completion of the first stage of my plan to resolve the blood ki supply penalty.
For the record, I wasn’t going to eat it myself.
Well, eating it would slightly increase total MP, which was a nice bonus, but…
‘To carry out the plan I have in mind, this has to be given to ‘that guy’, not eaten by me.’
I had come to <Predator’s Labyrinth> specifically to obtain this <Withered Moss> for him.
Black smoke continuously rose from the moss clustered in the corner. It looked repulsive, but I reached out without hesitation and collected it.
After storing both the <All-Aspect Torch> and the moss in the pouch at my waist, I hurried over to Glenda’s party to search for healing items.
“M-My bag… I put all the potions in there…”
“…….”
I was startled when a dying voice suddenly came from the side.
I turned with a deliberately calm expression and saw Glenda pointing at her bag while coughing up blood.
“…How long have you been awake?”
“From… the beginning.”
“So you saw everything.”
When I tried to pour a recovery potion onto her wound, she shook her head and gestured toward her comrades instead.
Understanding her intent, I started treating Pete first, whose injuries looked the worst, while listening to Glenda.
“I’ve wandered for a long time… met countless people along the way…”
“…….”
“But among them… I’ve never met a monster like you… I thought I was dreaming… watching you fight like a man possessed… pushing that bastard around… Even though it hurt like hell… I couldn’t look away…”
“You should save your strength. You’ll recover faster that way.”
“Yeah… you’re right…”
Glenda let out a weak, deflating laugh and fell silent.
I quietly poured every last potion I could find onto Glenda’s party, then sat down and waited.
I would wait until they regained consciousness.
We didn’t have much time to spare, but since we had entered the labyrinth together, we should leave together as well.
No matter how harsh life in this other world was, I didn’t want to live without any humanity left.
***
Thanks to using up every last recovery potion, Glenda’s party quickly regained consciousness.
Although they still suffered from aftereffects, they had recovered enough strength to walk out of the labyrinth on their own two feet.
“The air feels so clean…”
“Fuck… we’re alive… we really survived, right Captain? Right? I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“Yeah. It’s all thanks to this guy.”
When Glenda pointed at Ruth with a grin, her comrades turned to look at him with various emotions in their eyes.
Genuine shock and disbelief that he had truly defeated that nightmarish Night Fiend alone.
Deep respect for his seemingly bottomless strength…
But in the end, one emotion united them all.
“Seriously.”
“He carried the entire run.”
“If it weren’t for you, we’d be wandering around the afterlife right now. I’ll never forget what you did for us today.”
Gratitude.
Heartfelt thanks toward the person who had saved their lives.
Ruth found the concentrated gazes somewhat burdensome, so he simply gave a small nod and spoke.
“I suppose this is where we part ways. I hope we meet again someday. Then, I’ll be going—”
“Hey, hey. Why are you suddenly talking so fast? Aren’t you going to celebrate with us? I can’t repay you with just drinks for saving our lives, but at least let us treat our savior properly.”
Pete pouted, genuinely upset, while rubbing his wrist.
“Besides, my wrist still hurts from when you nearly broke it. This is revenge. I’m going to drink you to death today.”
“…I appreciate the sentiment, but I have urgent business to attend to.”
“Haa…”
“He said he’s busy, Pete. We’re all wanderers here. We’ll meet again someday. I’m sorry too, but let’s go our separate ways here.”
The usually quiet Spiro placed a hand on Pete’s shoulder and spoke. Pete reluctantly backed off, his face full of regret.
After exchanging final glances with everyone, Ruth turned to leave when—
‘Right. The black mage.’
The story Glenda had mentioned during their break before fighting the Night Fiend — the black mage from the Askan continent — suddenly flashed through his mind.
A serial killer mage who obsessively collected human blood.
An unknown figure that even Ruth, with his 9,000 hours of game knowledge, had never heard of.
‘Whatever he is, meeting him will surely yield something.’
Whether it was a path to becoming stronger, a clue about the fate of the continent, or even a hint about returning to Earth.
Or perhaps…
It might lead him to the origin of the character “Ruth Fried,” something that had never been fully explained even in the game’s setting.
That intuition struck him strongly.
As if sensing his thoughts,
“Fish Bird.”
Glenda suddenly spoke and handed him a note.
On it was her signature written in red ink.
“He’s the best-connected information broker I know on the continent. I once saved his little brother from bandits, so we have a bit of a connection.”
Ruth looked back and forth between the note and Glenda with a slightly dazed expression.
Not because the name “Fish Bird” was unfamiliar.
‘…She knows Fish Bird?’
As she said, Fish Bird was one of the most prominent information brokers in the setting of 《Soden》.
In the game, completing events involving Fish Bird would reveal hidden labyrinths, NPCs, and item locations on the world map.
The problem was…
‘The process of earning his help is ridiculously difficult.’
To get information from Fish Bird, you either had to pay an enormous sum of gold or complete tedious sub-quests to raise his favorability.
Quests that required scouring the entire continent for specific materials.
‘I’d rather just find information myself instead of doing all that bullshit,’ Ruth had thought many times before.
‘But if I approach him as Glenda’s benefactor… I can skip all the annoying steps.’
He would instantly gain Fish Bird’s goodwill.
From that perspective, this note with Glenda’s signature was worth its weight in gold.
“I infused my mana signature into the signature. Fish Bird won’t doubt you or try to haggle.”
“I see.”
Leaving one’s mana signature on a signature or object was a common method of personal verification in this world, similar to a fingerprint.
Still, why was Glenda suddenly trying to connect him with Fish Bird?
There were plenty of other ways to repay him if she really wanted to.
“I thought long and hard about how to repay you for saving our lives.”
“…….”
“Then I remembered how interested you were in that black mage from Askan. That didn’t seem like simple curiosity to me. I figured it was deeply connected to your own path.”
Despite everything, Glenda was a seasoned wanderer with sharp instincts.
“I won’t ask for details. Why you’re interested in that lunatic. If you want clues about him, go find Fish Bird. He’ll know something.”
“…Thank you.”
“We’re the ones who should be thanking you. Ah, one last thing. Here.”
Jingle—
She held out a pouch full of gold coins.
It was the exact advance payment Ruth had given her when he asked to join the labyrinth conquest.
“I can’t possibly take money from the man who saved our lives. Take it back.”
“Hmm…”
When he glanced at the others, they were all smiling silently.
There was no dissatisfaction — if anything, their faces urged him to accept it quickly.
In this kind of atmosphere, refusing would be seen as rejecting their goodwill.
Ruth accepted the money pouch without refusal, his expression calm.
Only then did Glenda look relieved. She placed both hands on her hips.
“Ruth, with your skill, you’ll surely make a name for yourself across this vast continent someday. We’ll do our best not to fall behind.”
“I’ll be rooting for you. Then, I’ll be on my way.”
Ruth turned around without hesitation and began walking away.
Pete stared at his retreating back for a long time before letting out a bittersweet sigh and speaking to Glenda.
“Unexpected. I thought you’d definitely try to recruit him into our party no matter what.”
“…You say that because you didn’t see it.”
“Huh? See what?”
“…….”
At that moment— so subtly that no one except Glenda herself noticed—
Her body trembled faintly.
Even now, thinking back on it sent a chill down her spine.
‘Was the Sword God Demian like that…?’
It was still vivid in her mind.
The sight of Ruth cutting down the countless face-merfolk pouring out of the Night Fiend’s body with nothing but a single sword.
“That guy… is not someone we can handle.”
***
Tailve Forest, where <Predator’s Labyrinth> was located.
Deep in the heart of that vast woodland.
There existed a hidden domain that human eyes could not reach.
It wasn’t just their eyes that couldn’t reach it. Even if someone somehow discovered it by chance, humans could not set foot inside.
Because the beings who lived in this domain thoroughly despised and rejected humans.
“The forest is withering.”
“…There is no helping it.”
“That is not true. Because of this worthless life of mine, the forest is suffering unnecessary sacrifice.”
“Father.”
Squeeze—
A brown-skinned girl tightly held the hand of an old man whose skin was similarly dark, as if scorched by fire.
However, the old man’s face was covered in cracks like shattered pottery.
Even someone who didn’t know the situation could tell he was gravely ill.
“Father. It is not worthless. Please don’t say such things.”
“…Ismin, you…”
The old man’s cloudy, misty eyes gazed at the girl called Ismin.
“You really are kind. To this pathetic chieftain who could neither save his son driven to the edge of a cliff nor reclaim our lost homeland.”
“You are my father before you are the chieftain. You must live. You have to live and return to our homeland…”
It was then.
“Ismin!”
A young tribesman burst through the bushes and appeared.
Normally, she would have scolded him for rudely entering the chieftain’s resting place, but his expression was far too desperate.
“What happened?”
“Ismin, come quickly. You need to see this yourself.”
“…….”
Sensing something ominous, she exchanged one glance with her father before hurriedly following the young man.
And a short while later,
Ismin understood why the young man had been so frantic.
“Oh my god…”
At the boundary separating their domain from Tailve Forest, a barrier had been erected.
This transparent barrier also served as camouflage. It hid and protected their territory from the eyes of outsiders and monsters.
However—
“That guy… is he actually looking inside…?”
“…It seems so.”
Beyond the camouflage barrier.
A man with skin so pale it looked like ice water flowed through his veins instead of blood stood motionless, staring directly toward them.
As if he could see straight through the barrier.
“…Damn it, what the hell is this bastard?”
Ismin ground her teeth and radiated intense killing intent.
The reason their race had been driven into this forest without roots, and why her father the chieftain had fallen ill, was all because of humans.
In her heart, she wanted to tear through the barrier right now and kill him.
“Hold on, Ismin. Even if that guy knows about our territory, he can never break through the barrier. The chieftain isn’t well either — let’s not cause any unnecessary commotion.”
“…….”
She knew he was right.
This camouflage barrier had been created with their tribe’s secret arts. There was no way for outsiders to destroy it from the outside.
As long as they didn’t step out first, nothing troublesome would happen.
“Tsk. I hope he gets lost before my patience runs out…”
Right at that moment.
The man who had been loitering beyond the barrier suddenly raised one hand.
“……?”
Just as Ismin, the young man, and the other tribesmen who had gathered after hearing the news all turned puzzled gazes toward him—
CRASH—!!
With a single gesture from the man, the camouflage barrier shattered and collapsed.