Chapter 67

Infinity vs. Infinity (1)

Kai's entire body went rigid, as though he had turned into a stone statue. For an instant, he felt the aura circulating through him suddenly seize up.

'This is...'

Dragon Fear.

Dragons—the mightiest beings, reigning supreme over all creation. The pressure was like coming face-to-face with a real dragon. Yet the figure before Kai was not a dragon, but a single human being.

Adrian.

His appearance was unmistakably human, yet Kai saw a dragon in him.

... It was the same thing as before. The inferno of ages that had swept away the monster legion in a single stroke was about to manifest once more, here in the Infinite Labyrinth.

The raging dragon, suppressed to its very limit, finally found its terrible release.

ROOOOOOOAR!!!

Blazing heat spread in an instant, and crimson flames incinerated every mass of flesh around them. The pitch-black darkness fled in a flash. Flesh covering the floor and walls sizzled and burned, its tissues, drenched in mucus and blood, boiling and bursting.

Kai had taken that inferno of ages head-on before.

<"AAAAAAAARGH!!!!">

He knew better than anyone how painful it was.

As the entire labyrinth seemed to scream in suffocating agony, the burning masses of flesh writhed in pain, contracting and expanding like hearts. Chunks of flesh melted into damp heaps of ash, while vaporized fluids hung in the air like a pale fog.

The lingering flames spread in an instant, still burning here and there.

<"AAAAARGH!! AAAAAH!!">

They inflicted fresh, terrible searing pain on Avarus.

The fleshy labyrinth swiftly shifted its walls to prevent the fire from spreading any farther. But the flames had already penetrated deep inside, burning through all its exposed nerves and blood vessels.

<"S-STOOOOOOP!!!">

Desperate, agonized screams rang out without end.

Amid that grotesque scene, where steam mingled with the rank smell of burning protein, Adrian lay sprawled on the ground, blackened to ash as though he had crawled out of a fire pit. Most conspicuously, both his arms had vanished—who knew where the hell they'd gone. Deep hollows extended all the way into his shoulders, as though gouged out with fire. It was a horrifying sight.

He didn't look remotely like a living person. No human could have survived that.

And yet...

"Hey, Kai."

A very faint voice reached him.

Kai's eyes turned back toward Adrian. And he saw it.

"Cut off some flesh and shove it into my mouth."

... The corpse was talking. An armless corpse, no less, flailing about on the ground.

What a grotesque sight.

Still, Kai kept his wits about him. Utterly absurd though it was, he followed Adrian's instructions and carved a portion of flesh from the floor with his sword.

Avarus showed no particular reaction. Compared to the searing agony erupting through him every moment, the pain of a little cut like that really was nothing.

SLICE.

Kai cut the flesh into bite-sized pieces and brought one to Adrian's mouth. Adrian snapped it up like a baby bird being fed and chewed away with gusto. He ate so heartily that the chunk disappeared in no time.

Before long, his burned-away arms regenerated, and from then on he needed no help. He sharpened the nails on his regenerated hands, tore off great chunks of charred flesh, and brought them to his mouth, chewing steadily.

"It's actually not bad cooked."

And so... the first day in the Infinite Labyrinth passed.

* * *

Day 2 trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth.

With their sense of time distorted, there was no way to know whether it really was the second day. It simply felt that way to Kai.

And on the second day, the battle between Adrian and Avarus continued as relentlessly as ever. Avarus had been briefly thrown off by Adrian's flames on the first day, but he wasn't just taking the punishment. He attacked Adrian using the Infinite Labyrinth, turning their fight into a ferocious physical brawl.

<"You bastard!!!!">

Avarus howled with fury as he manipulated the labyrinth's flesh. Tentacles transformed into increasingly complex shapes and moved at his command. Tissues resembling nails and teeth were tangled together along them, attacking Adrian like sharp thorns and the maws of monstrous beasts.

But...

"You think that'll stop me from eating them?"

Adrian devoured even those without hesitation. His jaws and teeth worked ceaselessly, chewing and swallowing the muscles and tissues. Rebuilding his wounds in an instant, he fought without pause.

Avarus's torn tentacles likewise regenerated, and his ripped tissues formed anew—but...

<"AAAAAAAARGH!!">

The pain that accompanied it was just as great.

* * *

Day 7 trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth.

A whole week had already passed since they had become trapped inside this mass of flesh.

<"AAAAAAAARGH!!!">

As usual, Avarus's screams got the day off to an energetic start. To be precise, it would have been more accurate to say that the screaming hadn't stopped once in seven days, but anyway.

Today, Adrian unleashed the inferno of ages once more. Perhaps seven days of close combat had worn Avarus down; he had left a brief opening, and Adrian hadn't missed it. Now flames sprang up everywhere.

<"AAAAH—! AAAAAAAAARGH!!">

Avarus's desperate screams echoed throughout the labyrinth. Adrian thrashed about with his arms burned away. Tentacles extended toward him, seeking to exploit his defenseless state, but—

SLASH!

Kai swung his sword and severed every one. He cut the tentacles into manageable pieces and fed them straight into Adrian's mouth. Once again, Adrian snapped them up like a baby bird and munched away.

Didn't he get sick of eating this stuff after seven straight days? The flesh vanished in the blink of an eye. Watching him, Kai couldn't help asking,

"Does that taste good?"

"Why? Want some?"

"Not necessarily..."

"Try it if you're curious."

Adrian kept chewing.

"This stuff's a bit rough, but it's reasonably edible cooked."

With his arms already regenerated, Adrian pointed to a sizzling, bubbling mass of flesh. No matter how Kai looked at it, it didn't look fit for human consumption. Yet he couldn't shake his sudden curiosity. More importantly, even with aura sustaining him, seven days without food was bound to leave him hungry.

In the end, unable to resist his curiosity and hunger, Kai cut off a small piece. He cautiously placed it in his mouth and chewed.

"Urgh!"

Without the slightest exaggeration, it tasted like moldy scraps.

Worst of all were the juices that burst out and filled his mouth. They tasted like broth made by boiling a foul-smelling swamp.

"Bleeergh!"

... He found a whole new respect for Adrian.

* * *

Day 12 trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth.

<"AAAAARGH—! AAAAAAAAARGH!!">

Once again, Avarus's desperate screams resounded throughout the labyrinth. Adrian lay sprawled on the floor without his arms, and Kai carved off some flesh to feed him, as always.

But then...

"Whew!"

Adrian suddenly sprang up all by himself. Even his arms had regenerated.

"... What was that?"

"What was what?"

"How did you regenerate on your own?"

"Huh? Oh, I ate the floor."

"The floor?"

Kai looked down. There was a deep hollow in the floor where Adrian had just been lying.

"This whole place is one big lump of flesh."

"So..."

"I chewed up the flesh on the floor."

"..."

"I might not have arms, but I've still got a mouth."

And with that, Adrian could now regenerate without assistance.

"If the Archmage saw this, he'd faint, saying it flat-out violates the second law of thermodynamics."

And so, just twelve days in, Kai lost his job.

* * *

Day 35 trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth.

"What the hell? Why aren't you regenerating?"

At some point, the chunks of flesh that had fallen away had stopped regenerating. Had the infinite stamina and mana been a lie?

"What are you going to do if you don't regenerate?"

FWOOSH!

... Perhaps it was simply because Adrian was insane.

* * *

Day 51 trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth.

<"EEEEYAAAGH! AAAAAARGH!!">

As Avarus's screams rang out yet again that day...

"... What is that?"

Kai was faced with an utterly absurd sight.

"What?"

"That mass of flesh over your shoulders."

"Oh, this?"

Adrian answered as though it were nothing.

"Exercise equipment."

"... Pardon?"

What fresh madness was he spouting now?

"The flesh here is pretty heavy."

"So..."

"I turned it into exercise equipment."

"..."

Kai was struck speechless. Truly... he had no idea what to say.

* * *

Kai stood there blankly, looking utterly dumbfounded. Ignoring him, I wove tentacles together into training ropes. I tore off the heavier chunks of flesh and bundled them into barbells and dumbbells.

The flesh here was remarkably heavy, perhaps because it was muscle specially transmuted through alchemy. There was a reason it was so high in calories. It was also incredibly tough; without Dragon's Claw[A], I would have struggled to tear it off. That might have been why it tasted so damn awful, but it couldn't have been better suited to exercise equipment.

With my fleshy barbell complete, I reflected,

'I've been slacking on physical training lately.'

More precisely, I hadn't had time. Between the trading expedition to Frecce, wiping out the legion, hunting the lycanthrope, gathering medicinal ingredients, and everything else, I'd been busy.

As a result, my current stats were:

==「Player Information」==

[Name] - Adrian Whitewolf

[Title] - Ruler of the North

[Level] - Level 53

[HP] - 2,550

[MP] - 0

[Stats] - Strength:33 Agility:60.95(+7.95) Stamina:24.15(+3.15) Mana:6

[Experience] - 55.8%

My Strength and Stamina lagged somewhat behind my Agility. Since I intended to put every stat point from future level-ups into Agility, that gap would only widen. Balanced stats were important in combat. Ultimately, the power of a blow scaled with Strength, while the ability to endure an opponent's attacks and keep fighting scaled with Stamina.

I lifted the fleshy barbell. It let out a grotesque cry and vibrated like a pulse, shifting its weight as if it were a living creature resisting me.

GURGLE! GRRRGL!

Controlling those writhing muscles was extremely difficult with a Strength stat of just 33. The strain tore my muscle tissue, and when I restored it with Regeneration[B+], the ruptured muscles knit themselves together more densely than before.

◆Your muscle fiber tissue has surpassed its limit!

◆Your muscle fibers are being restructured!

◆Your Strength stat increases by +4!!

My Strength rose accordingly.

'This is pretty efficient.'

Holding the heavy fleshy barbell, I began doing walking lunges. But the floor here was flesh as well, and it wasn't firm. The sticky muscle layers undulated as though alive and breathing, making the exercise considerably more exhausting. Running, jumping, and throwing myself through the air took about two to three times as much stamina as usual, and my breathing quickly grew labored. When I recovered with Regeneration[B+] again...

◆Your stamina has surpassed its limit!

◆Your Stamina stat increases by +3!!

My Stamina rose.

'This is insanely efficient.'

I could even raise Strength and Stamina at the same time. The efficiency was off the charts.

But perhaps I'd overused Regeneration[B+].

◆Massive nutrient consumption has left you ravenous!

GRRRRRRRRROWL!!!

Thunder erupted from my stomach. My stamina had recovered, but the intense hunger made my head spin.

My Inventory was sealed, but that wasn't much of a problem.

CRUNCH!

As I chewed up and swallowed the fleshy barbell, my calories replenished in an instant.

"No, what are you..."

Kai froze in place, staring at me as though I were some outlandish life-form. Somehow, he seemed to find me more grotesque than Avarus...

I kept chewing. Well, what did he expect me to do?

Once I'd eaten an entire fleshy barbell...

◆Surplus Calories: 100,000Kcal

I'd filled my calorie reserves to their maximum capacity of one hundred thousand.

At that very moment—

<"That crazy fuck—!!!">

Unable to watch any longer—or, more precisely, having regained his senses through the pain—Avarus erupted in rage and unleashed a mass of enormous tentacles. Hundreds of writhing, fleshy appendages shot out from the floor, ceiling, and gaps in the walls, wrapping around me and tightening from all directions.

Watching the tentacles surge toward me like a wave, I activated my skill.

◆Activating combination skill 'Metabolic Overdrive[U]'!

◆Calories Consumed - 100,000Kcal

◆All of the player's stats increase by [+100%] for [1,000 seconds]!

I burned all one hundred thousand calories in one extravagant burst. There were plenty more all around me anyway. No, not merely plenty—an infinite supply. Every single tentacle reaching for me was nothing but calories, wasn't it?

◆Y-you are completely insane!!!

Ignoring the translucent message floating before my eyes, I launched myself forward.

With the current +100% boost, my Agility stat stood at 121.9. My nervous system's capabilities soared, allowing me to perceive each of the hundreds of tentacles individually.

First, I swiftly pushed aside a tentacle dropping from the ceiling and used the recoil to leap upward. I twisted in midair to evade another reaching for my ankle. Spinning through the air once more, I ripped apart the next tentacle with Dragon's Claw[A].

◆Your nerve signal transmission has surpassed its limit!

◆Your Agility stat increases by +1!

'Even my Agility is going up?'

My eyes lit up.

Calories were infinite here. Regeneration[B+] was infinite too.

Which meant...

'I can keep growing infinitely?'