Chapter 68
10 min read ·
Infinity vs. Infinity (2)
Adrian's exercises had gone beyond bizarre into the downright grotesque. But Kai barely had time to gape at the sight.
THWIP-THWIP-THWIP!
Tentacles filled every direction, rushing in on Adrian. There wasn't a single opening to dodge through. Yet, astonishingly, he evaded them all. With extraordinary senses and reflexes, he reacted to and dodged every tentacle raining down on him.
Admiration rose unbidden on Kai's bewildered face. Adrian moved without stopping for even an instant, dodging, tearing apart, and devouring tentacles with movements that could hardly be called human. Quite apart from his earlier grotesque display, it was awe-inspiring. As a knight and a warrior, Kai couldn't help feeling a surge of respect.
How would Kai have fared? Could he have done what Adrian was doing?
He could say with certainty.
... He couldn't.
Even with a Master's senses, he couldn't perceive all those fleshy tentacles, let alone react to them. And yet Adrian was doing it. He registered each of the hundreds of masses of flesh, tracked every trajectory as they shot toward him, then dodged, tore, and swallowed them.
What was even more astonishing was this:
'He's getting stronger.'
As time passed, Adrian was growing stronger and stronger.
The more he dodged Avarus's attacks, the more his muscles tore and his breathing grew ragged. Being human, he eventually reached his limits. But each time, he sank his teeth into an oncoming fleshy tentacle with a crunch. He chewed and swallowed the flesh, fighting all the while. Then his torn muscles knit themselves together more densely, and his ragged breathing steadied in an instant.
Repeating that process again, and again, and yet again, endlessly, Adrian was growing endlessly stronger.
Now...
"The rate my stats are going up is insane!"
To Adrian, this was no longer the Infinite Labyrinth. It was the Infinite Trial Grounds...where he could grow without limit.
"Hey, Avarus! Speed it up a little!"
<You crazy bastard! You think I'll do whatever you tell me—!>
"You won't? Not even if I do this?"
CRUNCH!
<Aaaaaaargh!! I'll do it! I'll do it, all right!!>
Kai finally gave up trying to think about it.
* * *
Day 68 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<S-stop iiiit...! You lunatic...!!>
In the end, Avarus broke first under the endless not-quite-torture. Adrian's prediction had proved correct. Avarus might possess infinite stamina and mana, but his mental fortitude wasn't infinite.
On top of that, Adrian kept growing stronger with each passing day. He didn't even sleep. More precisely, he had no need to sleep.
Through endless training and growth, Adrian had become a veritable monster. A monster on an entirely different level from the monster that was Avarus. A predator that devoured monsters.
Even Kai could see that any further fighting was pointless. People might call Avarus a lunatic, the Mad Alchemist, or whatever else, but...
"What, you're done already?"
He could never beat true madness.
Frankly, even Kai was getting sick of it. In that sense, lasting sixty-eight days was quite an achievement.
<I-I lost...>
Avarus's voice lost its force, as if offering unconditional surrender.
<I'll let you out...so g-get out...>
At last, the flesh on one side gurgled open, revealing a brilliant mass of light beyond. The infinite battle had ended in Adrian's victory. They had finally reached the end of this long, long struggle—
"No thanks."
... What was he talking about now?
<Wh-what?!>
"I'm not leaving."
<What do you mean...?>
"Who said you could kick me out?"
<Well, obviously—!>
"You got to decide when I came in, but you don't get to decide when I leave."
Wasn't that backward? Wasn't that supposed to be the other side's line? Or wasn't it?
... Kai wasn't sure anymore.
Nor did he particularly want to know.
"Besides, what guarantee do I have that that's an exit?"
That was a fair point. The Rulebook had said there was no exit here, after all.
<I-it's real! That's a real exit! I stake everything I have...! No, I swear by the Great One, that exit really will take you outside!>
From the looks of it, it did seem genuine, but...
"Forget it. I'm not leaving. Where would I find a better training ground than this?"
Adrian appeared to have no intention of leaving at all.
"I'm not leaving until I hit 9,999. Just so you know."
Kai had no idea what he meant to get to 9,999, but...
"What are you waiting for? Get started again."
And so...
<Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!>
The Infinite Trial Grounds continued infinitely.
* * *
Day 89 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<P-please... Please leeeave...>
Avarus began begging abjectly. Fleshy tentacles filled the space all around them, but they were no longer a means of attacking Adrian.
<I'm begging you...! Pleeease... Please leave...! Won't you?!>
Rubbing and rubbing, the hundreds of tentacles hanging around them paired up and began pleading, pressed together like beseeching hands. It went beyond begging to outright supplication. They rubbed together so fast that they put flies to shame. The friction sent chunks of tentacle flesh falling away.
It was a truly grotesque sight, and honestly...
"No."
Enemy or not, Kai felt rather sorry for him.
But then...
"The people you ruthlessly experimented on suffered far worse than this. This is nothing compared to their pain."
After hearing Adrian's words, he didn't feel sorry for him at all.
* * *
Day 124 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<Kill me!! Just kill me, you crazy bastard!!!>
Avarus finally gave up on life.
It was hardly surprising. His body—the mass of flesh—had been ruined by the cycle of incomprehensible pain and ceaseless regeneration. His will had crumbled completely. He no longer seemed to possess even the desire to cling to life.
Whether his mind had collapsed entirely or he had simply gone off the deep end, Avarus began tearing apart the labyrinth's walls, ceiling, and floor himself. As if that weren't enough, he slammed his tentacles wildly into everything around him—
<Kill me!! Please kill me!! I want to die!! Please!!!>
He screamed and wept, yearning for death, but—
GURGLE!
The torn wounds restored themselves immediately—
<Aaaaaaaaagh!!>
Only doubling his pain.
* * *
Day 187 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<A-ask me anything! I'll answer everything!!>
Avarus changed tactics. His new strategy was to cooperate with Adrian. If he couldn't escape the pain either way, he had decided to choose the less painful option.
"First, that elixir you took. Was it the one you said could cure Seraphia?"
<Y-yes! It's called the Elixir of Infinity, and it grants infinite power to whoever takes it!>
"Infinite power?"
<Yes, yes! As you can see from me now, it truly does grant infinite power!>
"How is that possible?"
<Because it was fashioned with the Great One's Authority!>
The Great One Avarus was referring to... Kai had no idea who that was, but Adrian seemed to know something.
"Hmm..."
Adrian thought for a moment before asking another question.
"Then why were you going to give it to Seraphia?"
<Pardon? Whaaat...?>
"If it was such a ridiculously powerful elixir that it could grant infinite power, why try to give it to Seraphia instead of taking it yourself right away?"
<But I...did take it.>
"You only took it because you were about to get fucking killed in our fight and had no choice."
<W-well...>
"Still trying to scheme, I see. Apparently you aren't ready to cooperate properly yet."
FWOOSH!!!
The inferno of ages bloomed over Adrian's entire body. Avarus jumped in terror.
<N-no! I'll tell you! I'll tell you right—!>
But...
ROOOOAR!!
The frenzied dragon had already awakened in Adrian's arms.
<Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!>
* * *
Day 188 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
Yesterday's searing flames had sent Avarus out of his mind. It wasn't until today, a full day later, that he came to his senses.
<It was on the order's instructions!!>
The instant he regained his senses, he began spilling everything without prompting.
"By the order, do you mean the Devotees of the Fallen Souls?"
<H-how do you know...!>
Avarus's eyes widened.
Kai hadn't been able to make heads or tails of their conversation since yesterday, but Adrian did seem to know something.
* * *
Day 190 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
Over two days, Avarus disclosed everything he knew to Adrian. More precisely, he had "confessed" while repeatedly passing out and coming to over those two days...
In any case.
"That's enough. We'll end the questions here."
After two days of interrogation, Adrian seemed to have extracted every scrap of information he could from Avarus.
<Then...w-will you kill me now?!>
Somehow, Avarus no longer even asked Adrian to leave. That was how mentally broken he had become. Adrian, however, tilted his head as if wondering what he was talking about.
"Kill you? Me? Why would I do that?"
<Didn't you say you'd kill me if I told you everything I knew?>
"When did I make that promise?"
<P-pardon?>
"I never promised you that."
That was true. Unable to endure the pain, Avarus had volunteered to cooperate on his own. From what Kai had witnessed at Adrian's side, Adrian hadn't promised him anything.
"More importantly, I don't even know how to kill you."
<No, what do you—!>
"What are you waiting for? Time to get back to training."
CRUNCH!
<Aaaaaaaaaargh!!>
* * *
Day 211 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<Hic...! S-sniff...!>
Avarus began to cry. Each sob made the labyrinth's flesh and tentacles heave and quiver, and the sight was really...
"Stop crying. It's disgusting."
FWOOSH!
<Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!>
* * *
Day 241 of confinement in the Infinite Trial Grounds.
Avarus's screams could no longer be heard. Nor could Kai see the fleshy walls anymore. A bright full moon shone through the gaping hole in the ceiling, and broken stone and timber lay scattered haphazardly around them.
"This is..."
The manor in Veneron viscounty. In other words, the place Kai had been before becoming trapped in the Infinite Trial Grounds...no, the Infinite Labyrinth.
They had finally escaped the Infinite Labyrinth.
<H-heh, heheheh... Hehe...!>
Along with Avarus, who had gone completely insane.
* * *
At some point, the flesh suddenly vanished. I looked around and saw the ruined manor.
"Are we out?"
"It seems so."
Kai answered immediately.
"How long were we in there?"
"Approximately 241 days."
"241 days..."
More than eight whole months.
"Fortunately, it seems no time has passed outside."
Kai breathed a sigh of profound relief. I agreed with his assessment.
As Rule 6 had stated, the Infinite Labyrinth was a separate dimension detached from reality. No matter how much time passed inside it, time outside might not pass at all. As if to prove it, the manor's shattered remains lay strewn as far as I could see.
If 241 days had passed outside as well, there would be no reason for the manor's rubble to still be lying here. Someone would have come and cleared it away long ago. Yet the wreckage remained untouched, meaning no one had visited since our attack.
Then there was the bright full moon lighting the night sky. It told us that not even a day had passed since we attacked the viscounty. It seemed time here had stopped from the moment we were trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth.
But I had certainly spent 241 long days training inside it.
Strength stat +43
Stamina stat +59
Agility stat +12
The stats I'd gained alone amounted to a staggering +113 levels.
'Then my stats now...'
I opened 「Player Information」—
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] = Ruler of the North
[Level] = Level 53
[HP] = 9,460
[MP] = 0
[Stats] = Strength:87.4(+11.4) Agility:84.5(+19.5) Stamina:93.6(+19.6) Mana:6.9(+0.9)
[Experience] = 55.8%
'... That's insane.'
The numbers before me were so incredible that "insane" was the only word that came to mind.