Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Wave rider and imitator.
Turan tilted his head at these two unfamiliar titles.
Could these perhaps be names of bloodlines he hadn’t yet manifested?
But if it was a combination of two bloodlines, that would mean great family bloodline…
[Will you enter?]
The question repeated.
Just then, 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 door’s eyeball moved back and forth.
When he put it down, the voice spoke in a monotone.
[Error, wave rider, imitator, lost.]
Apparently wave rider and imitator were not powers Turan was born with, but powers the original owner of that holy relic had possessed.
For some unknown reason, that door had judged it combined with Turan’s bloodline…
“What are wave rider and imitator? And what is this door?”
Instead of answering, the eyeball just looked down at him arrogantly with its marble-sized eye.
A dismissive air that felt blatant despite not even having eyelids.
Turan picked up the holy relic again and asked.
“Tell me about wave rider and imitator.”
[Wave rider, Type 1, underwater breathing, underwater body enhancement, fluid manipulation. Imitator, Type 1, flow detection, absorption and imitation.]
Indeed, it seemed to mean it wouldn’t deal with those without four bloodlines.
Moreover, despite having the holy relic he had never felt gaining abilities like underwater breathing or fluid manipulation – perhaps it only served as ID without recreating abilities?
But the flow detection ability seemed to function, so there might be some way to use it…
“What are you?”
[Door spirit.]
As expected, this eyeball’s identity was like the librarian.
Though its appearance and personality were far more inhuman.
While the librarian was little different from humans except slightly different emotions, this door spirit felt much more rigid.
As if just reciting pre-determined content matching questions.
“What is this labyrinth? What’s its purpose, and how do we escape?”
[Night hunter’s labyrinth, becoming night hunter by one with correct four types slaying the leader, escape route opens upon slaying leader.]
Becoming night hunter – could it mean becoming a god?
As Turan widened his eyes in shock at this unimaginable story, the eyeball embedded in the door suddenly began spinning in place.
Its low, thick voice became increasingly distorted.
[Error.]
[Hunter, pursuer, wave rider, imitator.]
[2 type error, shadow, alchemist, absent.]
[4 types fulfilled.]
[Error, does not match night hunter types.]
[Labyrinth opening error?]
[Error, cannot close, internal personnel remaining.]
[Unauthorized entry.]
[Contact creator.]
[Error, creator absent.]
The door’s eyeball began spouting incomprehensible words on its own.
Just as he stepped back sensing danger, suddenly the eye’s iris split vertically and glared at him sharply.
[Self judgment. Labyrinth leader dispatch, instruction, eliminate remaining internal personnel.]
With those final words, the door opened itself and a monster inside was caught by the holy relic’s sense.
It felt like some barrier that had been blocking something disappeared.
‘That is…’
Judging by the silhouette visible through darkness, it looked similar to other monsters except being about twice as tall.
The difference was the amount of magic power flowing inside.
Just looking, it felt like over ten times stronger flow than its kin.
The huge monster, the labyrinth’s leader, stood up staggering and spoke to Turan.
[You]
[Are not]
[Night hunter]
[Fakes]
[Must die]
A woman’s voice echoing.
It was identical to the auditory hallucination heard when first entering here.
The moment he confirmed the other was an enemy, Turan immediately threw a stone he had prepared.
A strike with sufficient magic power infused while spinning several times.
The attack powerful enough to instantly pierce between the eyes and kill ordinary monsters was deflected with a dull sound.
‘This much?’
He immediately tried throwing both fireball and lightning but these too were insufficient for effective damage.
Though magic power decreased slightly showing it did some damage, nowhere near enough to take its life.
The monster giggled while approaching with large strides.
[Tickles]
That one too seemed to have overwhelming physical abilities compared to its magic power like its relatively small kin.
Realizing he had no chance one-on-one, Turan immediately turned and fled.
[Come baaaaaack!]
Boom, boom, heavy footsteps accompanying the roar.
Despite putting considerable distance while hidden, the huge monster was charging toward him with large strides.
Meaning it clearly recognized his position.
Not only that-
[□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■-!]
The monsters that had been leisurely wandering the labyrinth except when meeting humans all screamed and began running around everywhere.
While being chased by the large monster called the labyrinth’s leader, it was impossible to avoid all such ones too.
“Ugh!”
One monster leaping out from opposite Turan swinging five hook claws.
He raised one arm to defend while maximizing the guardian magical device’s power.
Thunk, the hook claws dug into his forearm but only slightly pierced the skin without dealing critical damage.
While defending the other’s attack with one hand thus, he simultaneously drew his dagger with the opposite hand and slit its throat.
[□□□!]
Though an ordinary dagger couldn’t pierce their tough bodies even with magic power, Haram’s dagger was a magical device even if not particularly powerful.
As the monster with half-severed neck staggered back gurgling, Turan ran through the pitch black labyrinth while thinking.
‘Night hunter’s labyrinth…’
A place to become god – just who made such an irreverent and bizarre place?
What immediately came to mind was the limping goddess, member of the Frea divine tribe.
But why would they need a building for making gods?
“Eek.”
Before he could deeply ponder, another monster immediately charged so Turan quickly slid between its legs then bounced up with magic power and ran… The situation wasn’t good for deep contemplation.
But he couldn’t just keep running and fleeing forever either…
‘What’s certain is I need to hunt that one.’
If believing what the eye in the door said that was obviously necessary, and even if not he needed to eliminate an enemy endlessly pursuing him.
Though the huge monster’s speed wasn’t particularly fast, he at least couldn’t sleep or rest while it chased.
But as clear from briefly engaging, he had no chance against it alone.
The solution that came to mind was Ferga’s group he had relied on these past few days.
Of course making them clash with that monster would cause many casualties on their side too…
But weren’t they already beyond reconciliation anyway?
Being mistaken as an assassin, Turan could neither reveal himself to Ferga’s group to become comrades nor survive together.
Given Ferga’s observed personality, even temporary cooperation could lead to backstabbing anytime.
Then better to properly use them instead.
‘Let’s fight together, cousin.’
* * *
“Aagh!”
“Yoznil!”
Ferga shouted the young man’s name as he fell with a scream while throwing chakrams.
The upper body of a monster pouncing on him was sliced off.
“Status?”
“Injured! Combat ineffective!”
“Have Ubo heal him!”
The noble with healer bloodline, Ubo, approached the injured one with tired expression and extended his hand.
As magic power seeped in, the wound split from shoulder to chest began healing.
“Recovered?”
“For now.”
About to spin chakrams on his fingers to attack the next enemy, Ferga realized no more were visible.
The noble with berserker bloodline holding a huge axe muttered softly.
“Is it over…?”
“Don’t let your guard down anyone. They might come again.”
Dozens of monsters suddenly pouncing on Ferga’s group 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.
Though thanks to the most powerful Ferga’s fierce fighting none died, everyone showed clear signs of exhaustion and fatigue.
“Wait, I hear some strange sound…”
“What sound?”
“Like boom, boom…”
That sound soon began reaching everyone’s ears.
The sense of something impossibly huge approaching…
“Sh-should we run?”
“Don’t be stupid. Know which way to go? Prepare to fight!”
As he said, chances of successful escape were extremely low when unable to tell if walls were ahead.
If facing the enemy, better to at least not have backs against wall.
At minimum they wouldn’t die crushed by tremendous mass.
As seven nobles excluding those injured or overly depleted of magic power prepared for battle, a huge being suddenly appeared through darkness before them.
One noble exclaimed seeing its form.
“What…”
The huge monster looked similar to its kin but stood 4-5 meters tall nearly touching the ceiling… The amount of mucus liquid flowing from its body was also several times more, leaving a sticky liquid path behind.
[□■, □■, □■-]
Similar to small monsters but rather than just screaming, a bizarre cry as if speaking incomprehensible language.
For some reason Ferga’s group could intuitively understand the meaning of those words.
“Night hunter, silver sun, wrath of bitter cold, half-breeds, enemy of children… kill all…?”
“What is it saying?”
Just what was this being to express hatred while speaking names of Frea gods?
Before they could voice questions, the monster immediately extended its right arm.
What they hadn’t expected was that with twice the height, its arms and claws were also twice as long.
That attack range exceeded what everyone thought.
“Kuhek-”
“Ubo!”
“Lord!”
The noble with healer bloodline, Ubo and Banipel’s ruler Galten Rosmun were each pierced through chest and abdomen.
Seeing this, Ferga’s group also rushed to counterattack.
Chakrams filled with tremendous magic power sliced flesh from the right forearm holding the two, and a long arrow pierced between the eyes.
Flames struck the chest and a huge light arrow pierced the neck.
But ignoring various attacks harming its body, the monster brought the two caught on hook claws to saw-like teeth and crunched them down.
[■■!]
Delicious!
As that meaning transmitted, Ferga’s group trembled in fear.
The enemy before them clearly matched legendary grade monsters only heard of.
A being that might appear once every few decades, that only family heads or those just below could face…
“Wh-what do we do, Ferga!”
“Can’t escape anyway I said! Attack!”
With the shout he threw chakrams, the metal discs curving to dig into where they had sliced the huge monster’s arm before.
With magic power contained inside, the chakrams dug into flesh then continued rotating to grind bone without stopping.
A loud grinding sound rang out before a crack and large chunk of flesh fell.
“Got it!”
“As expected of Lord Ferga!”
Happy at finally dealing effective damage, the nobles launched successive attacks.
Though their attacks weren’t as effective as Ferga’s, they steadily chipped away magic power moving the body.
[□■□!]
That hurts!
With sharp cry the left arm flew again.
Realizing the opponent was targeting him, Ferga quickly threw himself diagonally.
His cousin was in that trajectory.
“Br-brother-”
“Sorry!”
Even while using his cousin as shield, Ferga’s face showed not a trace of guilt.
He threw chakrams again but this time it raised left hook claws to defend as if refusing to fall for it again.
His cousin impaled through the torso was directly hit by the chakrams and split in two.
“Uooooh!”
Just then, the noble with berserker bloodline roared while striking the monster’s shin with huge axe.
Bloodline ability gaining tremendous physical power at cost of losing reason.
Combined with heavy magical device’s power, the shin caved in and one knee buckled…
“Did it!”
“I! Crushed its knee-”
The celebration was brief as with a boom the berserker noble’s body flew dozens of meters into darkness and vanished.
The enraged monster had kicked him with its other foot.
Only the masterless axe rolled pitifully on the ground.
[□■■□■!]
The following battle was like a tug of war.
The huge monster staggered swinging hook claws with injured leg limiting mobility, while Ferga’s group dodged around counterattacking to chip away its stamina.
The inconvenient part was small monsters occasionally charging in preventing full focus on hunting the large one.
Though some small monsters charging suddenly turned to stare at empty air or collapsed weakly.
It was aid from an invisible someone, but the battle was too intense for anyone to notice.
“Huff, hah…”
After over ten minutes, Ferga looked around realizing he had little stamina or magic power left.
Only he survived.
The others had all lost their lives either caught on hook claws or ambushed by other small monsters.
Outstanding nobles who wouldn’t fall behind anywhere had died like dogs in this unknown space.
‘Just what is this thing, and what relation does it have to becoming family head?’
Ferga recalled his grandfather, the Zahar family head like heaven.
If he hadn’t listened to his words, he wouldn’t have fallen into this hell or lost friends and vassals…
Even if he escaped here, he was practically eliminated from successor competition now.
The relatives of those who died here wouldn’t look kindly on him.
How could he compete politically after losing all supporters no matter how much he developed individual skill.
No, that didn’t matter.
First he needed to survive here…
“Ah…”
Perhaps from losing too much blood, hook claws pierced his body as he staggered from dizziness.
Blood welled up in his throat and flowed down his lips, perhaps from internal injury.
The moment he sensed death, the monster that had pierced him rolled its eyes as if seeing something else.
[□□□!]
‘Fake night hunter?’
Why is it looking at empty space, no, who is it talking to?
As he thought this, a human figure appeared from empty air.
A youth in somewhat exotic traveler’s clothing.
The weapon in his two hands was very familiar.
The huge heavy axe that could only be used by specialized close combat bloodlines, wielded by the berserker bloodline vassal who had followed Ferga.
The gray-haired youth easily swung that heavy weapon to embed it in the battered huge monster’s neck.