3 bar menu

163 The White Wolf of The Vigil’s End

 

「Maybe your [Skill Lender] has some kind of special role in the grand scheme. Not that Gelli knows what that is.」

So said Angelina, throwing a glance toward Koe-san.

There were no other known skills that came with an auxiliary pseudo-personality like Koe-san. Most of all, when I first spoke to her in the protected domain, she had told me this: ‘My personality is preconfigured.’

If it was configured, that implies someone must have set it. Whoever that someone was remains unknown. And yet, hearing what Angelina just said, the mystery only deepened.

Whoever they were, what exactly did they intend for me to do?

「I would like to answer, truly. But I’m sorry—I cannot. It’s as if a lock has been placed on the memory; no matter how I try, it simply will not open.」

「Yeah, well, the idea that a skill was created by someone in the first place is still a hypothesis, so maybe we’re just overthinking this. But if that’s the case, maybe the real question isn’t who made it—but when…」

「Sorry to interrupt.」

A voice cut through the conversation—Shizuku’s, from up ahead. The golden wolf skidded to a halt, sending a plume of snow into the air.

What she’d stopped in front of was massive—likely larger than any door mankind had ever constructed. The carved relief on its surface—

「A wolf, huh.」

「We’ve arrived. This is the innermost chamber.」

Shizuku was perfectly composed, as if she hadn’t just sprinted across a massive distance. She showed no sign of strain.

That alone was proof of how far [Garou] had evolved.

「Shizuku, how’s your body holding up?」

「Great. Better than ever. This is the true strength of the Werewolves. I can feel it in every fiber of my being—the mana, the vigor, the will that once flowed through the ancestor known as the Wolf King. This is the perfected form of that power. But…」

With a look of deadly resolve and killing intent in her eyes, Shizuku gazed up at the giant door.

「Even with this power, I can’t so much as scratch it. I can’t even touch its shadow. Something’s waiting beyond this gate—something so overwhelming that even if hundreds of awakened Werewolves warriors came at it, they’d still be turned away.」

In dungeons, the monsters’ strength tends to scale with the dungeon’s rank. Based on our experiences in S-Class and even Super-S-Class dungeons, the pattern goes something like this:

The first ‘General’ can be brought down by a master class human.

The second ‘General’ takes a demi-human blessed with an endemic skill.

And the ‘King’ can only be brought down by an army of such demi-humans.

Angelina ticked off the levels on her fingers like she was counting power levels, then gave a small sigh.

「The difficulty curve here is completely busted. Like, no matter how many of the first Generals we beat, the second General is still out of reach… and now the King is on another level entirely. Could we not have eased into this?」

「Complaining won’t change anything. Besides, we have an alchemist that is worth a  hundred master alchemists—and more importantly, we have a king who can match a dungeon King one-on-one. I’ll fight alongside Marge for the sake of all the ancestors who couldn’t reach this far.」

「Well, if things go south even with Skill Lender-san, then nobody else would’ve stood a chance either. Gelli’ll always choose Skill Lender-san, no matter what.」

Facing this massive door, our party stood united and undaunted. As far as I could tell, we’d gathered the strongest possible group to take on this challenge.

No matter what enemy awaited us, I saw no reason we would lose.

「Everyone ready?」

「Yes, Master.」

「As you command.」

「Same here.」

I nodded to the three of them and activated [Asura’s Six Arms]. Placing my hand on the enormous door etched with a wolf’s relief, I gave it a push. It groaned open with a deep rumble—and at once, an overwhelming surge of power spilled forth.

「…Huh?」

It was an incredibly dense torrent of mana—so intense, I felt like my consciousness might be swept away if I let my guard down for even a moment. And in the midst of that maelstrom, a voice echoed in our minds.

A voice neither male nor female. Just cool and calm, directly seeping into our thoughts.

—Who are you?

「It spoke!?」

「A monster… using words?」

「That’s even possible? How?」

Shizuku and Koe-san were startled, but Angelina remained composed.

「Skill Lender-san.」

「Yeah, this one’s different from Lord Emesmes. This one’s real.」

「It’s not all that strange for a monster to speak. There are plenty of known cases of intelligent ones. The reason they don’t normally talk is because they have no desire or reason to learn human language. So…」

「So the question isn’t how it can speak, but what it says.」

「Exactly.」

The voice asked: Who are you? Then I’ll answer.

「I am Marge—a human, but also the one chosen as king by the Werewolves.」

—That power… Ah, so you are the sage from back then. It’s been a while.

「…You know me?」

—The flow of time, the rebirth of form… All that remains is power and voiceless will. Too long for a human life, it seems. No, perhaps that too was part of the design.

「Rebirth? Me?」

「If that’s true, it’s insane. You’d basically be a genius who didn’t even need to pass down memories—you just show up again in the future yourself.」

「Do you know something? About who I really am? What my skill is for?」

—If you know nothing, then that too must be his design. I will say nothing further. My task is only one.

「Everyone, get to me!!」

—I shall fulfill my role. After two thousand and several hundred years, let us dance once more, old friend.

I had them all huddle close purely on instinct—something told me an attack was coming.

If it was a physical blow, I’d block it with [Asura’s Six Arms] and [Divine Blade/Three Moon Sword].

If it was magic, we’d counter with magic of our own.

If it summoned minions, Angelina’s golems would hold them off.

「Gh… khh…!」

But the attack that hit us wasn’t any of those. In fact, I wasn’t even sure attack was the right word.

We couldn’t breathe.

—If you’ve come this far, then you’ve bested formidable Generals. No blow alone will bring you down now.

—If you’ve come this far, then you’ve mastered the chill. No cold alone will stop you now.

—And yet, I shall subdue you with cold all the same.

—Do you know this truth?

As we each struggled in our own way to resume breathing, it appeared before us.

「You’re…」

Beautiful. That was the only word that surfaced in my mind.

A pure white wolf. Just like the white serpent and the white eagle before it, this one too was unstained—like fresh snow. And yet, the power radiating from it eclipsed even the strongest ‘Kings’ we’d faced before.

In its eyes dwelled true intelligence. Not animal instinct. Not beastly cunning.

It was the wisdom of one who observes the world from a distance, reasons things out, and reaches logical conclusions. A beast of intellect.

—Just like water and humans, even air can freeze.

「The boiling point of air…!?」

Angelina’s voice wheezed out.

Boiling point—normally that’s the temperature at which water or alcohol turns into vapor. But could air, at an extreme cold, also change state into something like water or ice?

Even if we defended against the cold with[Cocytus], if all the air was frozen, breathing would be impossible. My vision twisted sharply; even keeping my eyes open was difficult.

Staying here was dangerous.

「[Space Jump], acti—」

I tried to activate the teleportation skill—but failed. Without breath, I couldn’t think. The human body is made that way.

[Space Jump] requires setting coordinates, scanning the destination, and jumping. Without conscious thought, it can’t function.

There had to be a way. Some way to draw just one breath.

As I searched for a solution, I felt a cool touch against my cheek. I opened my eyes—and there was Koe-san, her face right in front of mine.

「Master, take… this…」

What she passed to me, mouth-to-mouth, was just a single breath’s worth of air.

But that one breath was enough to revive my consciousness. My fading thoughts began to turn again—and with them, my life.

It wasn’t much. Just a brief stay of execution. But without it, I never would have realized—

That the one trivial skill that had long left my side…

…was finally returning to me.