CH 211

From inside the cab of the super-large construction machine Bagger 293, I watched as the lambton worm’s body turned into porous gray stones. A gust of wind blew through the throne room as if it were the world outside――and the lambton worm’s corpse that had turned into rocks further dissolved into fine grains, disappearing in the wind.

At the same time, the wilderness around started to distort. With the lambton worm now gone, something is going to happen to the throne room. Exiting the driver’s cab, I returned the Bagger 293 back to the garage and readied the Phase Rifle just in case――.

When the Lambton worm disappeared completely, the wind that blew in the throne room became even stronger――the landscape in the distance is further distorted, and dust flutters as if the earth is flipped up.

The entire field of vision was covered with dust――when it cleared up, there was a familiar throne room in front of me. I stood atop the long red carpet, and the throne was a mere few steps away from me. However, there was no labyrinth master on the throne. Nothing was detected on my radar. The only other thing recorded by the map was the inner chamber that was not visible when this room was still a wilderness――the core room.

The only thing left to do is to remove the core from the pedestal to let this labyrinth die. But before that, I had to do something first.

“See… are you here?”

There’s nobody to talk to in this throne room, but I still asked either way. But there’s no answer. Naturally, because I’m the only one here.

“Can’t you hear me? If you can… then please answer!”

Someone was supposed to watch me here.

Someone was supposed to listen to me.

If that someone was not even watching, then what’s the point of me fighting my way here?

“Answer me!!”

My angry voice echoed in the throne room――this is the only time that someone could answer me directly. This someone did send me an email after the labyrinth started dying. I didn’t know if it was after I removed the labyrinth core, or if it’s sometime afterward――it’s not up to me.

However, this time I wish to communicate on the timing of my choosing.

“What’s going on with my body?! And why is it assimilating with the VMB system! And why does the symptoms only progress inside the labyrinth!”

I already know about how the VMB system will assimilate with my body while inside the labyrinth after conquering the wolf labyrinth. However, I still don’t get how that works. What’s the difference between the world outside and the labyrinth? Only someone can answer that.

Moments of silence that seemed like an eternity passed――not even an email alert sound. Is it not possible to answer me, or is it because someone doesn’t want to answer me? Or perhaps I simply can’t force an answer?

It can’t be helped then… let’s just extract the core first.

Thinking so, the moment I took a step――everything I could see changed.  The throne room was surrounded by inorganic stones, red magic lines were stretched around like veins on a black floor, turning into a space that looked as if it was inside someone’s body. The red magic line swelled like a bump in some places and beat like a heartbeat. The air chilled my bones and was full of a rotten odor.

Something was wrong. The throne room has never changed like this.

A tremor runs from the bottom of the body. Something――someone was looking at me in this throne room where no one else should be.

It’s not the same someone that has sent me emails a couple of times. This is an entity that is an equal or even stronger――A mass of malice that creates a labyrinth, hates and resents all who live in nature, and erodes this world and the one who dropped me into this world, the Evil God of myth that is so old that its name is already lost. It’s now in contact with me.

A familiar window monitor emerged within my field of view. I did not intend to operate the TSS tactical support system. The text chat window is one of the communication functions used when playing VMB as a game.

It moves in front of me so that it floats slowly. But I’m not the one who controls this chat window.

Ping ♪

Then, for the first time in a few months, the reception sound of a chat message addressed to an individual rang. However, I could not read the displayed characters. That’s fine――after a while, the auto-translation function will show a translated version on top of it. That was the usual flow, as was the email from the existence that freed me from the wedge of the Labyrinth Master.

It took longer because the hieroglyphic symbol was probably as old as this world. Even then, the sentence is sometimes still cryptic.

After a while, the translated ancient text was finally displayed on top of the original.

=====

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

Poor, poor, child

My child was cut off by the hateful boy

However, my child has grown up well.

He grew up strong and came back to me

Are you worried about yourself? Anxious? Are you scared?

Use that power of yours

Drown in the pleasure of power

Be free and unshackled

Because I am your mother

Just like drinking my breast milk

Draw more and more blood, in the labyrinth

Consume and consume even more, in the labyrinth

And then, go outside in the stead of your mother

Grow strong and annihilate her children

Grow big and destroy her world

Grow, and distort everything there is

Only by then, your mother may release herself from this narrow world.

=====

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

The chat messages from the ancient evil god, which increased little by little, were translated into more readable texts one after another.

It was long――and above all seemed twisted. Apparently, it refers to itself as a mother. Does that mean the evil god is a woman――a goddess?

It seems impossible to read the meaning of the ancient text completely this time, but I have learned a few things. I knew what was the reason for the assimilation phenomenon between me and the VMB system. In the labyrinth, kill the demon beasts and sub-races, obtain magic stones, and capture them to convert them into CP. The series of flows will accumulate in me as if I earned experience points in the game, and will proceed with the assimilation phenomenon.

And the ancient evil god is a goddess, trapped in a narrow world and seeking salvation. But at the same time, she wants to exacerbate and destroy everything that lives and exists in this world. This is exactly the tradition of the birth of the labyrinth. The labyrinth is a training ground for raising the master dungeon master of the labyrinth to save herself, and is a front-line base for destroying the natural world.

It’s distorted-it’s the one who grows up distorted more than anyone else. After all, all the existences such as labyrinths must be subdued. If this guy were to be released, the reality of this world would be more ruthless and cruel. Drowning in power, crazy, full of distorted people, chaos covers the sky.

The appearance of friends and women crying in that horrid future crossed my mind―― I waved my left hand to shake it off and wiped out the chat window. At the same time,  the throne room returned to the original stone space.

It’s over.

I walked forward and pushed open the door leading to the core room in front of me.