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Over the Infinite Chapter 23 Part 2

 

It was then that a man approached her with a proposal to establish a clan. This man, Laurent, had debuted two years before Arshelia. Already known as ‘The Azure Knight,’ he was the next-generation ace, fighting near the front lines. Initially, they were just a duo. Laurent was a competent partner, providing the necessary support from behind. She felt, for the first time in a while, that she had found a teammate she could call a comrade. Amidst the changing members, their duo lasted about a year, during which time Arshelia came to be known as ‘The Crimson Knight.’ It felt good. She believed they could go anywhere together. Laurent had that something about him.

They broke through the 65th floor, then the frontline. As a reward, the Dungeon Master granted Laurent, the party leader, the skill ((Meteor Shower)). Likely tailored for Arshelia, the two skills resembled each other, and the battlefield seemed to rain meteors constantly. It was around this time they established their own clan, (Meteor Knights). Though delayed, they finally achieved the goal set when Arshelia first met Laurent. With Laurent as the leader and Arshelia as the deputy, (Meteor Knights) made great leaps.

After the 65th floor, floor masters began to appear on every level, instead of every five levels. Their pace inevitably slowed, but (Meteor Knights) continued to conquer each floor one by one. Thus, (Meteor Knights), requiring two meteors, reigned supreme in the Labyrinth City’s hierarchy, undisputedly the ace of the city, continuously conquering the front lines.

The camaraderie among members was excellent. The atmosphere within the clan, striving to maintain its top position, wasn’t unpleasant. While they never became romantically involved, Laurent and Arshelia’s relationship evolved into one of reliable partners, unifying the clan. Both seen as unattainable, they lamented in secret that they had no lovers.

Although her twin sister didn’t join the clan, she worked hard as an adventurer. The clan’s new members, following in her footsteps, were all talented and promising adventurers. (Meteor Knights) became the clan that every strong adventurer aspired to join.

That was, until the conquest of the 75th floor.

 

 

-0-

 

There had been times when Arshelia’s spirit nearly broke. In fact, there had been numerous collapses and total defeats. But she had never been so utterly shattered until facing the enormous iron giant, resembling a moving castle, surrounded by countless dragon knights. A foe that seemed impossible for just one clan to conquer. Up until that point, none of the members, not even Arshelia or Laurent, could find a way to overcome it.

Their successful conquests halted there.

After a long time, (Meteor Knights) was not the one to conquer this challenge, but a new clan called (Arc Saber). As if replacing (Meteor Knights), (Arc Saber)’s rapid progress continued. (Meteor Knights), now trailing behind (Arc Saber), found themselves mostly fighting in places one step removed from the front lines. They weren’t unable to progress, but (Arc Saber)’s pace was simply too fast. Despite the generous sharing of their conquest information, (Meteor Knights) could only follow but not surpass (Arc Saber). They were merely walking a path paved by (Arc Saber). No matter how hard they tried, clinging on, the actual gap in conquest timings was negligible, yet the distance between them and (Arc Saber) seemed to widen. (Meteor Knights) was still a top-tier clan, even after being overtaken by (Arc Saber). But there was an inescapable feeling of confinement covering the entire clan.

Was this acceptable? Of course not.

Then what should be done? There seemed to be no answer.

Everyone thought so. Even Laurent, who had led the clan so far, seemed to lose his charisma. It was probably with the hope of breaking this stagnation that Arshelia requested an audience with the Dungeon Master.

The Dungeon Master she met after a long time hadn’t changed at all. He looked exactly the same as when she was a child, during the trial. She had grown so much, yet he showed no signs of aging.

But there was a greater sense of dissonance.

The Dungeon Master’s manner of speech and gestures hadn’t changed, but he felt oddly devoid of humanity.

It was as if she was dealing with a robot or automaton, that’s how it felt.

Arshelia began to doubt who she was speaking with. Was the person before her truly the same as the one she had met before? When she pointed this out, the Dungeon Master merely laughed and revealed the truth to her.

『Surpass… a thousand floors… 』

The truth conveyed by the Dungeon Master deeply etched itself into Arshelia’s heart. What had they been doing all this time? In such a different world, how could they ever catch up to the Dungeon Masters fighting alone in solitude? Even (Arc Saber) had only just surpassed the 85th floor. The Dungeon Master was fighting far beyond the imminent 100th floor, in a place where even their backs were no longer visible. And here they were, struggling with floors that seemed almost at their feet. How much more training was needed to come close to that level?

But they couldn’t give up now. She realized that the Dungeon Master, revealing this truth, was at his limit. It seemed as though believing in the goal of a thousand floors had kept him going until now, but now he was losing various things, like a thread stretched too thin finally snapping. If this continued, even with his strength, his heart wouldn’t endure. Who else but their successors could protect the heart of the Dungeon Master?

It wasn’t just about (Arc Saber). If needed, they should collaborate with (Arc Saber) to move forward. (Arc Saber) probably knew this and was sharing their conquest information in an attempt to advance further, as if saying, “Follow us.”

Crawling, if necessary, she was ready to move forward. But alone, neither (Arc Saber) nor (Meteor Knights) could reach that place. Successors following them were absolutely necessary, someone who could reach the Dungeon Master.

And then, she met destiny.

These two, who had their previous life in the world of the Dungeon Master, had accomplished what Arshelia could not: they cleared the Trial on their first attempt. It was a distasteful choice by someone unknown, but they even conquered a hidden stage that Arshelia didn’t know existed. Hearing this directly from the Dungeon Master, she felt her heart tremble. Surely these two would follow her. After being introduced by Cloche and talking with them, she felt even more strongly about it.

Something was different. Surely, these two possessed what the Dungeon Master had ceaselessly sought.

Therefore, as immature as it was, she agreed to the Dungeon Master’s proposal. It was a terrible request. Such an absurdity shouldn’t be possible in a rookie battle. But she found herself wanting to stand before those two in the battle. She understood it as a trial that could temper the rookies. If those two had “something,” then surely this meant something significant.

『You can go all out, but I have conditions, 』 the Dungeon Master said.

Arshelia was shocked by these words, but they must have had some intention. However, the only conditions imposed were not to let anyone be eliminated within the first minute and not to use (Meteor Impact) for two minutes. Those were the only terms for this absurd order.

Was that really okay? The opponents were rookies, just debuted. Although the third person’s performance was uncertain, they were definitely less than a year into their debut. It had been quite a while since she had been on the front lines, but she hadn’t retired. With each step forward, her strength was definitely increasing. For someone of lower or even intermediate level, a minute was more than enough without the need for (Meteor Impact).

Later, she learned that the three began training in the dungeon, with backing from (War Arms). Surely by the time of the newcomer battle, they would have grown unrecognizably and stand before her. Perhaps the Dungeon Master was even expecting them to surpass her in this short period. Although difficult to believe…

 

-1-

 

The rookie battle began, and the two standing before her had grown remarkably. They must have trained desperately up to this day. The third person, included perhaps just to make up numbers, wasn’t bad either. Just one match was enough to tell that they had the skills to be in the intermediate level already.

Amazing.

They had already reached this far.

They could go ahead. Surely, like this third person, they would pull everyone along with them. Surely, even Cloche wouldn’t be able to remain unaffected by such people. Though, she did lose this time.

Within the first minute set by the Dungeon Master, she hadn’t managed to eliminate even one of them. She was surprised to have to use ((Weapon Break)) and to barely dodge Gungnir’s thrown spear in mid-air was impressive. The moment when the spear returned to her hand and Tsuna’s astonished expression was amusing.

It was fun. Seeing the growth of her juniors was incredibly satisfying.

She wanted to keep fighting like this indefinitely.

But it’s time to end the fun.

As expected, they haven’t reached her level yet.

She had hoped they might just surpass her, but that was too much to expect. It was wishful thinking.

She was surprised by Yuki-chan’s invisible attacks and the third person’s eccentricity, but that was their limit. What was that, anyway?

Even if they lost here, they would surely rise quickly.

They would surpass both (Meteor Knights) and (Arc Saber), reaching the Dungeon Master.

She thought she would become the foundation for that.

It wasn’t a bad feeling. Having such dependable juniors, she felt fortunate. She could leave the future to them.

「The promised two minutes are up, it’s time to end this. 」

 

―――― Action Skill ((Meteor Impact)) ――

 

She launched ((Meteor Impact) towards the giant hand that suddenly appeared.

An ((Instant Equip)) for that purpose, huh? Quite thoughtful. But probably, even that won’t stop a full-charged ((Meteor Impact)).

The spears of light pierced and eroded the giant hand, and she saw the first one break. The second wouldn’t last much longer.

This was probably the end—