Chapter 218

Watching Han Kangyoon’s party commence battle without hesitation, Halo muttered in admiration.

‘They’re strong…!’

He had roughly guessed as much when they faced the Formless Serpent, but witnessing their prowess firsthand truly exceeded imagination.

Even during Halo’s time outside, those with this level of skill were extremely rare.

He hadn’t seen them personally, but he thought if the party from the past journals appeared in the modern era, they would likely look just like this.

‘Was their skill really to this degree?’

It was certainly plausible for them to be confident. Even Halo thought these were clearly not talents meant to rot away in this mysterious labyrinth.

Seeing the Guardian, now tattered and staggering, Halo reflexively shouted.

“Be careful! The Guardian will continuously restore its body unless you finish it off!”

And then, in that instant, he felt a question about the words he had just shouted.

‘How do I know these things?’

Moreover, the Guardian is an indispensable existence for this village. Stopping Han Kangyoon’s party, who are trying to harm it, should be what Halo must do right now.

Yet, for some reason, Halo felt their actions were not wrong.

Whoosh.

Crrrrrrack!

The Guardian, which had begun restoration by gathering its scattered fragments, was being thwarted by Han Kangyoon’s party, who, upon hearing Halo’s shout, proceeded without panic.

And so, the battle continued even after 10 minutes, then 20 minutes had passed.

The Guardian displayed its formidable strength with an untiring body and immense power, but Han Kangyoon’s party showed truly perfect combat against such a Guardian.

Finally, as the sun was setting, it was not Han Kangyoon’s party but the village’s Guardian that lay collapsed on the ground in a wretched form.

Thud!

“Whew, huff. What kind of brute monster is this?”

“…It gave us quite a bit of trouble. Even though there are five of us.”

Looking at the Guardian sprawled out helplessly, Halo reflexively twitched his hand.

While the current situation was simply confusing, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something kept trying to burst forth in his mind.

And towards such a Halo, Han Kangyoon’s party, having caught their breath, began to approach.

“Look behind you.”

“…Behind?”

Halo, clutching his dizzy head, barely turned to look at the location where the village had been.

His village, which had maintained its beautiful appearance alone even in this monochrome labyrinth, was now fading in color and crumbling away into nothingness.

“This is…”

As he spoke, Halo suddenly shifted his gaze and stared at his own body.

He hadn’t noticed, but he too had now taken on the same faded color as the village.

Only then could Halo recall the memories flooding in as if a blocked dam had burst.

“I see, in fact, I’ve been… for a very long time…”

“Have you remembered everything?”

“Yes. That’s right. I too had comrades, and I settled in this village after giving up on advancing through the labyrinth.”

Halo looked at the fallen Guardian with a bitter expression, clenching his fist tightly.

“Guardian, it’s truly infuriating. It was definitely that thing that stole our souls and memories.”

Thanks to Halo’s explanation, everything became clearer.

That was not a Guardian.

It was merely a cruel adjudicator that robbed all opportunity from those who lost their courage and will and chose to remain here.

“…I regret it. If I had assessed the situation more wisely and acted, the outcome might have been slightly different.”

But Halo ultimately failed. He couldn’t shake off the illusion that blinded his vision and succumbed to reality.

This is the result. Halo, having even forgotten his comrades’ memories, became part of the labyrinth, drawing castaways into this monochrome village.

Realizing this, Halo let out a deep sigh.

“Thank you. If you hadn’t defeated the Guardian, I would have repeated this endlessly.”

“……”

“Do not be deceived, and, you must all leave this place together.”

With those final words, Halo scattered like a mirage, concealing his own form.

It was the moment the swamp, which had swallowed castaways of the Blind Mountain for a long time, met its end.

“…There’s no one left. They’ve all disappeared without exception.”

“It must be that we are the first to enter this place in quite some time, or that the selection process by that creature occurred extremely recently.”

As Shin Noeul said.

Considering the case of Xiao Chen mentioned by Halo, it was clear that new castaways had flowed into the labyrinth until not long ago.

However, most of them, blinded by the village’s peace, likely met their deaths after even being deprived of any opportunity.

‘In contrast, Xiao Chen left the village immediately, escaping the selection process, so Halo clearly remembered her too.’

But seeing that she didn’t touch the Guardian, it means Xiao Chen hasn’t achieved any significant results in conquering the labyrinth yet.

Perhaps she really wandered around here afterwards and lost her life.

‘Unlike us, who came fully prepared, she had neither supplies nor comrades.’

And for us, while unfortunate news, it was highly likely that the true challenge lay ahead.

‘…The enemies that will be the key to conquering the Blind Mountain are said to definitely exceed Level 70.’

But the level of Wigwalt, the village’s Guardian and selector, was 69.

In short, it meant enemies beyond that still remained.

“Are you still thinking of going down?”

“Yes. For now, that seems closer to the correct answer.”

But, whatever the case, we now had no choice but to move forward. I pulled out a purple gem from the Guardian’s remains and quietly moved my steps outside the cave.

“Hmm. Still, it’s amazing. That a Sorcerer capable of such a thing exists. I can’t even grasp the principle.”

Certainly true. It’s a space truly hard to believe was created by a single individual.

But having played countless series of the Exorcism Academy, I knew.

That monsters capable of such things definitely exist somewhere in this world.

‘And…’

I too must aim for such a realm, even if I may never reach it.

Only by doing so can I overcome all future challenges and reach this world’s true ending.

“It’s about time to depart, Oppa.”

And so, we continued walking, finally passing beyond the space we first encountered on this mountain and began heading downwards.

Accordingly, various magical beasts, including the Formless Serpent we saw before and those mentioned in the journals, attacked us, but since we already knew of their existence, we wouldn’t be easily defeated.

After several battles and walking down for a few more hours, the surrounding scenery finally began to change.

Unlike the summit, which seemed to never get closer, the lower part of the mountain definitely had a reaction.

At that fact, the party’s expressions brightened.

“It seems that was indeed the correct answer.”

“I don’t know for sure, but the creator of this labyrinth must have had a pretty nasty personality, right?”

“Ugh. Who would look at this and think it’s a path?”

From the village that deceives people, to the path laid out as if leading to the summit, and the cliff area placed below.

As Shin Noeul said, it certainly can’t be seen as a good hobby.

No matter how much they claim to select those worthy of receiving knowledge, the method is too malicious and arbitrary.

But there was no choice. That was precisely the person known as Witch Verdi.

‘She’s a character who has only had hints dropped so far, her true nature not fully revealed…’

But since I, the creator of the Black Forest, was somewhat involved in her birth, I possess a fair amount of information.

Given her unpredictable temperament, it’s certainly not strange that she would create such a malicious labyrinth.

“…We’ve really come down.”

As if the scenery unfolding before her was somewhat awkward, Yeon Jaki spoke with a subtle expression.

As she said, the forest and trees, now seemingly faded in color, had diminished, and a massive rock face spread out before us.

‘It’s truly vicious.’

The terrain was so rugged that even we, composed of skilled Exorcists, came down with great difficulty.

Most people wouldn’t even dare to break through even if they knew this was the correct path.

But upon crossing it, we could finally take a step towards truly conquering the labyrinth.

“So, it looks like there’s nothing on the surface.”

“There must be some path. As it has been until now, what’s visible here cannot be trusted.”

We split into two groups and began surveying the surroundings while maintaining vigilance.

From the cliff area we descended, to the massive rocks and the sparsely scattered forest around them.

We meticulously combed through a fairly wide area, but finding the path was harder than expected.

Thus, I had no choice but to call upon a specialist adept in such situations for help.

“Sahwanje.”

Slither.

Fwoosh!

[Kheehek…]

Sahwanje, now with a familiar expression, shook its head side to side, stopped in place for a few minutes to carefully observe the surroundings, and finally set its target and began to move.

That place was precisely towards the massive rock face we had checked earlier.

“Hoh, so we missed something.”

However, Sahwanje, while heading towards the rock face, suddenly changed direction, headed towards the side, and stopped its steps.

That place was the awkward space existing roughly between the rock face and the cliff area.

“Huh? I don’t see anything.”

Indeed, it was so.

That place was literally just flat ground. No mechanisms, nothing strange existed.

But Sahwanje then shook its head, raised a finger, and pointed at something on the ground.

It was an ordinary stone, slightly larger than a human foot.

‘Don’t tell me…’

Shin Noeul, who approached it, crouched down, touched the stone, and then muttered with an astonished expression.

“This, it doesn’t budge.”

In short, it meant it was the correct answer.

We immediately moved our steps near the stone, each touched it once, exchanged glances, and used an Offensive Art to destroy it.

Then, a small hole, just large enough to fit a small gem, gradually revealed itself.

‘…Truly bad taste.’

To hide a mechanism in the ambiguous space between the massive rock face and cliff area that would attract anyone’s gaze.

It was nothing but an act brimming with malice, as if mocking the castaways risking their lives to break through the labyrinth.

“Then, I’ll insert it.”

When I fitted the gem obtained from the Guardian into the small crevice, it fit perfectly as if it were its original place.

And then, the ground rumbled, and a deafening roar as if heaven and earth were collapsing began to assault our ears.

Kugugung!

Jjeojeojeojeok—!*

“…Indeed, it’s telling us to come that way.”

The massive rock face that had filled one side of the flat ground had split in half, revealing its entrance and beckoning to us.