The Lord of Chaos was Riakis; the Lord of the Abyss, Berzak. Thus, the Lords of each Floor had both a true name and a nickname, and their essences were often called as their middle name; essence of chaos, or essence of the abyss, for example. Normally it was like that.
My assessment of the essence of tranquility that Lüchenprague had was that the appearance was deceptive. As the essence of Lord of a Floor, he had a strong personality and powers, but the concept had many problems. This was evident only with the active ability, Override, the wide-range silencer that overrides all abilities within a 30-meter radius. This included passive abilities, and any abilities used outside the radius disappeared the moment they were entered, making long-range interception impossible.
But that didn't mean he was invincible. There was a reason I didn't consume things.
Magic and divine power cannot be dissipated.
Even the penalty didn't end there. Override didn't work on a monster. Simply put, the essence of tranquility was no different from an essence that only existed for interpersonal combat, and its passives were even more ridiculous. With the passive Quiet Control skill, the abilities of all essences other than this were disabled, and the stats obtained from the essence were doubled. It was a very risky skill that nullified the abilities of all the other essences you acquired in exchange for doubling your stats.
Thanks to that, I almost never picked up this essence. This was because my goal was always to complete the game. The reason I took it three hundred times in the first place was to try a different route.
«I've heard about your reputation as an explorer. Why don't you turn the world upside down with us?».
A route was occasionally opened in the game when you gained fame. When I joined forces with the Ormi Revolutionary Corps to break the path of betrayal, I began by taking the essence of tranquility. There was definitely no other essence like this for interpersonal combat. However, I was never successful. After encountering countless dead ends, I came to the provisional conclusion that, as this was a problem with the structure of the game itself, breaking the path of betrayal was impossible. After that, I didn't try it again. Just in time, I realized that the essence of tranquility had a fatal weakness.
Squeeze.
I grabbed the item I had prepared beforehand, the key to defeating Lüchenprague the Traitor. I actually debated using it before, but at that point I decided that taking care of Amelia was the priority, so I put it away.
If I had known he would lie about D-Day, I would have given it to him in advance.
The reason I didn't bother sharing the information was because I thought we would obviously work together. And rightly so, because how could I predict what I would get out of mixing paralysis medicine into a drink? It didn't even occur to me that it would look cooler to take it out during a crisis.
...really.
Slide.
The water level was dropping for seconds.
Now that you have lowered yourself to your waist, you will have regained your vision.
I stared at the passageway where Amelia had gone. I remembered the conversation we had before he left and laughed to myself.
«I will trust you».
«Yes, trust me. About your sister...»
«I wasn't referring to my sister».
«...Eh?»
«Not my sister, you won't die. I will trust that. So... don't die».
«U-uh...Okay...»
I avoided his eyes because I was embarrassed to have them say it to my face. Amelia seemed to feel the same way because she left me behind.
«Then I'll go first-»
You're here.
I could hear the sound of splashing water from a distance, so I erased my distracting thoughts and focused on the sound.
Splash, splash.
The distance was quickly shortened. I tensed and lowered my upper body.
Tear.
I tore the parchment he was holding tightly in one hand.
Shaaaaa!
The mana particles emitted light and landed on my skin. The light emitted by the mana particles was weak, but it was enough to attract attention in the darkness of the sewer.
Splash.
The approaching sound stopped.
Hit.
My heart pounded like a child caught in the middle of planning something naughty. Thus the silence continued. Apart from the running water, there was no other sound for about three seconds.
Splash!
Simultaneously with the sound of running, I crouched down and dove into the water. The moment the guy appeared at the intersection, I stood up abruptly and lunged at him.
Kwaaang!
The aura and hammer came into contact, sending water in all directions from the wind pressure. Perhaps because my concentration had been raised to the limit, all the visual information was clearly transmitted to my head. The water droplets had broken into thousands of particles. The opponent's face was visible between them. Seeing me, the guy looked to the side.
Are you looking for Amelia? Wow, you're making a barbarian feel left out.
Run.
As soon as my feet hit the ground, I jumped again and closed the distance to the enemy. The guy was already brandishing his sword sideways. It seemed like he was planning to keep me at bay so I couldn't get any closer, but thanks to that, I ended up in the middle of the sword's path. This was a good thing for me.
Run.
I ran non-stop. At this rate, it was clear that the sword would touch my body before my hammer, which was pushed behind my shoulder in the first exchange. But so what? I wasn't planning on hitting him with the hammer in the first place.
Slide.
I reached forward. I was free because I had placed my shield, which was a useless object against an aura user, in subspace. But I figured a sword wasn't the only thing a swordsman could wield. The opponent did not recover his sword. He only moved to move my free hand away.
Hit!
Soon, his hand hit my wrist. Since this guy was not inferior in strength, my arm was pushed back. Even in the midst of that, he brandished the sword to cut my waist, and both of my feet were in the air, making it impossible to take a step back. Seeing this, his judgment was definitely not bad. I was just a little accommodating.
The skin was touched with the skin and the conditions of the parchment prior to breaking were met.
Shaaaaaaaaa!
Blue mana particles exploded. If this were in-game, this would have been the message that appeared:
[The character has been joined to Ricardo Lüchenprague. The character is not affected by the Override].
I immediately recited the command I had prepared.
Transcendence. Jump.
Jump.
The moment I stepped into the air, my body accelerated in a straight line, splashing water everywhere.
Dart!
He wasn't running out of sword orbit, but deeper inside.
While I'm at it... Gigantization.
With a weight inflated like an eight-ton truck with the accelerator pressed to the floor, there was nothing else to see.
Kwaaaaaaang! Choking...!
The effect of the blow on the body was incredible.
***
Amelia was running at full speed through the half-submerged sewer when she inadvertently shuddered from the vibrations transmitted through the water.
Kwaaaaaaang!
The loud roar could be heard faintly even from a distant distance. It seemed that a battle had begun on that side as well.
Splash, splash.
Amelia concentrated quickly and began to move her feet again. The roar was so loud that he wondered if the sewer had collapsed. What could have caused a sound like that? Would something have gone wrong? He came up with several questions at once, but shook his head. He said he would trust him. In a way, it could also be said to be a promise.
If Yandel beat Lüchenprague, how could he present himself to the sisters in the end? Amelia also shook off that contradiction.
Splash.
He kept walking. Although the sewers were as complicated as a maze, it was not very difficult to reach the desired destination. As someone whose achievements had been recognized several times and who had risen to an important position within Noark, he had gone through this path many times. Naturally, he memorized everything for this day.
Here on the left. And until the next three-way road, straight ahead.
Amelia continued running, pushing her body to the limit with a performance that far surpassed that of an ordinary person. How much time passed?
A tap.
Amelia stopped. He had reached his destination, a crossroads with five steps. I could see water-soaked bodies floating everywhere. They were all faces she remembered.
«Laura! Amelia! What are you doing?! If you're awake, hurry up and fight!»
Even when she regained consciousness after being swept away by the water, the battle was still on. At that moment, Amelia pulled out her gun and tried to fight as ordered, but her sister stopped her and pointed somewhere. The explorer who once worked for the Melta trading company, the only one who knew the way, was removing the equipment from the corpses and walking away. So the two did not participate in the battle and simply followed the disappearing guide.
Here.
Remembering the passage in her memory, Amelia hurried in and was soon able to find the person she was looking for.
«I'm just hiding here for a moment...». The guide excused herself with a frightened expression.
«It doesn't matter, I don't care about you».
Durbon glared at the man and then turned his head. «How dare you betray me and run away!».
Then the man slapped his sister's cheek. Laura endured it, without thinking about stopping him. He had come to the conclusion that making him angrier wasn't a good idea because Durbon wasn't alone. Ironically, he pulled out his gun and sided with those he was fighting.
Since the numbers had decreased, he probably thought there was no point in continuing to fight. The disappearance of the guide would also have had an influence.
It was really an animal. Even after this, they would probably betray each other at the last moment and try to steal your equipment. However, there was no way to confirm whether that was actually the case.
Squeeze.
Amelia grabbed her dagger with her remaining hand.
«It's all my fault».
«Just so you know».
«M-my sister just followed me ... ugh!»
«Yeah, don't worry. This time I will also send it with you.»
The moment the man strangling his sister was about to lower the axe, his arm fell into the water, still holding the gun.
Slash!
As the man screamed and twisted his body from the pain of the amputation, the others present were startled when they recognized Amelia.
«Amelia...?!»
«W-how are you here...?»
They weren't worth talking to. Amelia stabbed her dagger into each of their necks with emotionless eyes.
«Uh, e-wait! I-I know the way...!»
That included the guide trying to express his need. Since she knew the road that led to the city anyway, there was no reason to save him.
Cut!
The surroundings were perfectly organized. The Rainwales sisters trembled and remained suspicious of her, but it seemed like there was something she was curious about.
«U-um...»
«Amelia...!»
Her younger self continued to ask, ignoring her older sister's insistence: «W-what happened to Felic Barker?».
«Is dead».
«It's true? B-but how...»
«No more questions». Amelia ended the conversation. «There is no time for this. Follow me quickly». The long story was approaching its end.