Episode 109
The Triple S-Rank Monster Hunter.
This was the name Dale had earned in his previous life before becoming a hero of another world and the empire’s hound. It was a name from a past so distant that the memories had grown faint, yet now, those old sensations were stirring once more.
Clang, clang!
Every time the weapons attached to the six arms of the monster before Dale—the Asura—swung, and every time he parried those blows.
‘Monster.’
In this world of swords and magic, the existence of monsters scattered across the continent is not uncommon. Just as there are those who make a living by hunting these creatures, known as ‘monster hunters.’
Dale deflected the six erratic strikes with his Peacemaker and the black sword of his shadow cloak.
He deliberately suppressed the use of magic, focusing solely on the sword to hunt the deep labyrinth’s monsters. Through this training, Dale sought one thing.
The inexplicable memories that resurfaced every time he clashed with these creatures.
The instincts of a monster hunter.
In his past life, Dale had gained unimaginable power as a hero of another world, but he lost his ‘original power’ after the ruthless physical modifications by the Red Tower.
The first power he had awakened to face the creatures known as ‘Creatures’—a power beyond the explanation of knights’ auras or wizards’ magic.
That lost power was slowly reawakening with each clash against the monsters here.
‘What are these monsters in the labyrinth?’
They weren’t the easily recognizable monsters scattered across this world.
Though they were nothing compared to the high-level creatures he had fought in his past life.
As he deflected the six weapons with his shadow cloak’s sword, his Peacemaker’s blade flowed like water, piercing towards the Asura’s heart.
Thud!
The sword tore through the Asura’s chest and emerged from its back. The creature’s movements ceased, and its body began to disintegrate into ashes, leaving behind a blood-red gem on the ground.
A magic stone.
A high-value gem imbued with potent magical power.
The stronger the monster defeated, the purer the crystal obtained, and the magic stones dropped by deep-level monsters are worth more than the lowest-grade artifacts.
For adventurers tackling the labyrinth, these stones are an indispensable source of income.
Thus, the existence of labyrinths overflowing in the demon lord’s domain and beyond is aptly described as ‘magic stone mines.’ While not as lucrative as artifacts, they are another form of ‘gold mine.’
──The monsters wandering the labyrinth leave no bodies behind when they die. Even orcs, a type of demon, leave corpses, but these do not.
In other words, the beings here are not creatures existing within the natural order. They were created with a certain intent, fulfilling the purpose of their creator.
The powerful magical energy contained within the magic stones was proof of this.
Like creatures that leave behind a core upon vanishing.
”…”
So who designed this labyrinth, created these mysterious beings, and why hide artifacts within it? At least, the people of this world lack the technology for such feats.
Could the so-called ‘ancient demons’ truly exist, as some speculate?
What the people of this world accept as normal, Dale could not.
But for now, finding answers was impossible. Grasping the high-purity magic stone from the ground, Dale moved on, not as the Viscount of Saxon or the ‘Black Prince,’ but as the S-Rank adventurer known as 《Faceless》.
By the time Dale emerged from the depths of the labyrinth and headed upwards, the first light of dawn was breaking.
The first edge of the deep layer is reachable in a single night, but only if one has the skill to swiftly dispatch the upper-layer monsters encountered along the way.
The labyrinth is divided into three main layers.
Upper, lower, and deep.
However, beneath the deep layer lies another level unknown to most. A past hero once reached the deepest part of the deep layer and discovered another level beyond.
The Abyss.
An unknown realm that Dale, with his current abilities, could not dare to approach. To venture beyond the first edge of the deep layer where Dale had settled, one would have to camp within the labyrinth.
But Dale is not just an adventurer; he is the Viscount of Saxon, governing the demon lord’s domain, with a mountain of duties awaiting him as a lord once the sun rises.
“Look, it’s Faceless…!”
“Hey! Faceless is coming back!”
“Did he already find an artifact?!”
As he neared the surface from the uncharted depths, adventurers exploring the labyrinth began to appear one by one.
“We’d be dead if we went to the deep layer…”
“That guy’s a monster, a real monster.”
Drawn by the artifact rush, swept up in the frenzy of the northern frontier era.
The opportunity for a fortune that Dale offered them was no lie. But the world is no fairy tale, and opportunities are not given to just anyone. Even if given, seizing them is another matter entirely.
The S-Rank adventurer 《Faceless》 was one who had seized the opportunity presented by the ‘artifact rush,’ and at the same time, he was an object of awe that ordinary adventurers could not easily approach.
The shadow cast beneath his hood was enough to instill fear and awe.
Just as the ‘Black Prince’ of the Saxon family did.
At that time, in the Lancaster Duchy.
As dawn’s first light began to rise, a man was engrossed in training.
Mikhail Lancaster, the second son of the Lancaster family. A promising knight once hailed as the continent’s greatest genius with the sword.
And there was someone who volunteered to be his training partner.
A formidable figure known as the one closest to the ‘Seven Swords of the Continent,’ someone who matched Mikhail’s skill without yielding an inch… and even seemed to dominate with ease.
The Celestial Sword, Gabriel Lancaster, the Grand Duke.
The head of the Lancaster family, one of the empire’s three great ducal houses, known as the pinnacle of nobility.
With the moniker of the Celestial Sword, he succeeded the legendary Swordmaster Vardel, earning the title of the ‘Empire’s Greatest Sword’ among the Seven Swords.
The three great ducal houses of the empire, the northern Saxon family known as the clan of darkness, and the Barbarossa family, once mere pirates. Strictly speaking, the images of these two ducal houses are far from what people imagine as ‘noble.’
In contrast, the Lancaster family, as their emblem suggests, was the epitome of traditional nobility.
The White-and-Red Rose, symbolizing ruthless nobility.
A fertile and prosperous domain befitting a ducal house, a noble lineage that allowed no trace of baseness. At the same time, they understood the duties they bore as nobles and were willing to shoulder that weight.
Whoosh!
The Celestial Sword, the Grand Duke of Lancaster, parried Mikhail’s knightly sword and created distance.
“Training from the break of dawn on the day of your journey, won’t you be exhausted?”
“I’m only saddened that I can’t cross swords with you more while I’m away, Father.”
Mikhail Lancaster adjusted his grip on his sword and smiled.
“Truly my son.”
The Grand Duke of Lancaster couldn’t hide his fatherly pride as he smiled.
A model student with the empire’s greatest sword talent from a young age, never neglecting his training from dawn’s first light.
The most promising candidate for the next of the continent’s Seven Swords.
Yet, in the depths of the Grand Duke’s heart as he watched Mikhail, there was a looming shadow.
The endless void within his son’s sword.
As the second son of the Lancaster family, he was born with innate talent and the finest lineage. It seemed he had the world at his feet, with a path to success laid out from birth.
Just as a wizard’s magic reflects their thoughts, a knight’s aura is no different. Thus, Mikhail’s aura, reflecting his thoughts, was a ‘colorless and formless’ aura, mirroring his own emptiness.
However, on the day he lost to the eldest son of the Saxon family at the guild city’s fight club. Realizing he had been defeated by a child much younger, and not even a knight but a wizard, with a sword… the void within Mikhail’s sword finally vanished.
After that bitter defeat, Mikhail’s aura finally gained color. Along with the new sword his father bestowed upon him after he broke his own.
A knight’s sword with no distinguishing features.
Two years later, the ‘artifact rush’ swept across the continent from the northern demon lord’s domain.
The dawn of the northern frontier era.
The Viscount of Saxon, the ‘Black Prince,’ opened the demon lord’s domain and summoned adventurers from all over the continent. Upon hearing this, Mikhail Lancaster did not hesitate.
When his son Mikhail declared his intent to journey to the ‘demon lord’s domain’ ruled by the Viscount of Saxon for training, the Grand Duke of Lancaster gladly respected his son’s decision.
“Ad-Adventurer!”
As Dale stepped into the Guild House, one of the receptionists turned pale and shouted.
“Welcome back! You’ve just returned from a labyrinth hunt, haven’t you?!”
A hush fell over the Guild House, punctuated by the sound of people holding their breath. Dale—or rather, the S-rank adventurer known as “Faceless”—crossed the room in silence.
He laid out a collection of high-purity mana stones, freshly harvested from slain monsters, on the table. The blood-red glow of the stones sparked a renewed murmur among the onlookers.
“We’ll issue the sales permit as soon as the appraisal is complete!”
──In the labyrinth city of Labyrinthos, there are several regulations established under the name of Viscount Sachsen.
First, any adventurer entering the labyrinth must register their information with the Adventurer’s Guild founded by Viscount Sachsen.
Second, all artifacts and mana stones obtained there must be reported to the guild, and cannot be traded without a sales permit.
However, the consequences for breaking these rules are not well-documented.
Officially, it states that violators will have their goods confiscated and be banished from Sachsen’s territory, never to return. The troubling part is that those who break the rules seem to vanish, and no one ever sees them again. Permanently missing.
In truth, Dale’s ambitions extended beyond merely exploring the northern demon lands.
His real purpose in establishing the Adventurer’s Guild, a place where countless skilled individuals from across the continent gather and can be monitored, was to test his own abilities.
The brokerage fees from adventurers trading their labyrinth spoils are significant, but more crucial is the detailed knowledge of the continent’s most skilled individuals that can be gleaned.
This is another reason why Dale actively operates as the S-rank adventurer “Faceless.”
Just then, an adventurer who had caught Viscount Sachsen’s particular interest entered the Guild House.