[Harbinger of Corruption].
A bizarre skill that warps one of your currently equipped Essence abilities if it hits.
In my case, it hit [Transcendence] from Bayon.
'At least it didn’t hit Storm Gush...'
Even if I’d dodged the worst-case scenario, it still stung.
Because [Transcendence] was a core Essence that could be linked not only with [Giant Form], but with numerous other Essences as well.
It might not have ranked as high in importance as [Giant Form], but that didn’t change the fact that it was a core part of the final build for a shield-barbarian.
'I wonder how it changed...'
The thought that it might’ve turned into something completely useless was eating away at me, but there was no way to find out yet.
Once you're hit by that skill, the affected ability becomes unusable for 180 days.
'This is day 33 of the expedition...'
If we stick to the original plan and return to the city on day 75, that leaves 42 days.
And 30 more in the city.
'Even if we do another 75-day expedition after that, we’ll still have 33 days to go.'
Meaning it won’t be until the third expedition that I’ll be able to use [Transcendence] again and find out what changed.
“Captain, the island’s in sight...!”
I’d been standing on deck lost in thought when finally, our destination came into view.
The sky around the island was stained blood-red, as if that part of the world were detached from reality.
Hardened lava streaming into the ocean.
A thick, dark-red smoke cloaking the entire island.
“Disembark...!”
From anchoring the boat to setting foot on the island, the entire process took 3 hours and 50 minutes.
Roughly 50 minutes faster than it took to reach the secret base.
“Well done, Auyen.”
“It’s nothing...”
Still, Auyen’s complexion was visibly pale—understandable, considering he’d pushed his ability to the limit for the entire voyage.
Use that ability even a few more times here and he’d likely collapse into soul exhaustion.
“From here on, you rest.”
“Sir?”
No need to overexplain.
“Ainard!”
The moment her name was called, Ainard instantly picked up on the context.
“Got it!! You want me to carry him up top, right?”
“Huh? I-I’m really fine—!”
“Haha! Don’t worry so much! I’ve carried people before!”
Okay, that settles Auyen’s mobility.
And since the Fire Orb had remained activated since we arrived on the island, there was no need to reactivate it.
That meant—
“We’re moving at full speed from here.”
Leading the now-rested squad members, we surged through the island.
Our goal was the island’s center, where Amelia had last been spotted.
But even as we advanced toward our destination, we continued carefully scanning our surroundings.
Because it wasn’t just Amelia who was at risk.
「Status effect [Eternal Scorching] applied.」
「Your character takes ongoing fire damage that amplifies over time.」
That field effect—its damage scaling wasn’t yet critical, so I could live with it.
「Time remaining until death: 05:50:17.」
But with only about six hours left before [Doomed] kicked in, we had to start resetting our party members right now.
Here’s how:
“Raven, Marone. From now on, cast the ‘Distortion’ spell on every monster we kill.”
Even while maintaining our breakthrough formation and pressing forward, we cast Distortion on every monster we encountered before taking them down.
Monsters afflicted with Distortion don’t drop Essence on death—instead, there’s a chance their corpses remain, yielding rare byproducts...
“Oh! It worked!”
Instead of vanishing into a shower of light, the defeated monster collapsed.
Thud—!
Distortion had succeeded.
But not long after, flames erupted from the corpse, reducing it to ash.
Then—
Fwoosh—!
A red shimmer rose into the air.
“That looks... kind of like an Essence?”
“It is.”
The official name in-game: ‘Original Sin.’
Why it was called that, no idea—but the effects were twofold.
「Your character has consumed ‘Original Sin’.」
「Fire resistance permanently increased by +1.」
It raised your fire resistance by +1.
「Status effect [Doomed] has been reset.」
「Your character will die in 24 hours.」
And reset the [Doomed] status, buying us another full day.
Note: the fire resistance buff only applied on first consumption—no stacking from repeated doses.
Still, that wasn’t the point right now.
Since there was no UI to hover over the debuff icon like in the game, we made sure to have each squad member manually set a 24-hour timer on their watches the moment they took the dose.
“This is a weird feeling. Knowing exactly how long I have left. Don’t you think so, Parab?”
“Haha... yeah. I guess it is.”
“It’d be nice if we could always see how much time we had left, even in real life.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean your remaining time, like your lifespan. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know that? Earlier, when we thought we only had one minute left... I just panicked. I started thinking of all the things I’ve never done...”
“......It would be nice, yeah. If we could see how much time we had left... we wouldn’t die without saying the things we needed to say.”
“Saying the things... not doing?”
“Ahaha... it’s just a saying! Just a saying!”
Even in a situation like this, Marone and Parab were chatting in that warm, fuzzy way of theirs.
Tch. And here I thought it was weird when Parab insisted on being Marone’s mount during travel.
'...Is something really going on with them?'
I didn’t know. But I couldn’t help thinking it.
Part of me just wanted to leave it alone.
Once, I would’ve worried about such relationships forming within the team.
Feelings meant unpredictability, after all.
But I’d changed.
“...We might not have a ‘later.’”
“Huh? What did you say just now, old man?”
“Just talking to myself.”
I brushed off Elwen’s question and turned my attention away from Marone and Parab.
Whatever happened between them wasn’t my business.
If it worked out, great. If not, then it didn’t.
As long as there were no regrets, that was enough.
With that mindset, we focused solely on advancing toward the center of the island.
「Ainard Prnelin has consumed ‘Original Sin’.」
「Fire resistance permanently increased by +1.」
We’d secured four Original Sins total and reset everyone’s [Doomed] status.
And that’s when I heard a familiar voice whisper in my ear.
“So you finally found me.”
“...Huh?”
I knew that voice...
“Emily...?”
I muttered the name without thinking.
“What, did you see a ghost or something?”
Amelia appeared, grinning slyly.
“...Uh?”
I was stunned.
Honestly, it did feel like seeing a ghost. I hadn’t expected to find her this fast.
'No, wait. Did she find us?'
As it turned out, Amelia hadn’t even known we were looking for her.
Hell, if not for what Arta said, I wouldn’t have even known she was on this island.
“What the hell happened that brought you here?”
“Something happened outside.”
“Golden Tree? Those bastards?”
“No, they’ve got nothing to do with it.”
“...What? Nothing to do with it?”
“As soon as they realized we’d taken out their tail, they left the island. I waited just in case, but didn’t see them again until I came here.”
None of this matched my expectations. I’d assumed if she was here, it had to be because of them...
“So if not them, why the hell did you come here?”
This time, her answer was even more unexpected.
“A Floor Lord got summoned on the 6th Floor.”
...What?
***
A Floor Lord summoned on the 6th Floor.
It was shocking—but it made sense.
“You came here the moment you found out, huh?”
“Yeah. If I got caught up in it alone, it would’ve been bad. Plus, I figured you guys would be returning around now.”
Hearing her full reasoning, I nodded in understanding.
Classic Amelia. The only one you could trust not to screw up, even unsupervised.
Her judgment—fast and accurate.
“Well done.”
Most Floor Lords affected the entire floor.
Take Liachis on the 3rd Floor, for example.
When he appeared, he immediately shut down inter-floor portals and transformed the entire field.
And the same applied to the 6th Floor’s Lord.
That one doesn’t block portals, but once it’s summoned, its skills reach anywhere across the vast ocean.
'I was going to just leave the island if anything happened, but now... that option’s off the table.'
One path had closed—but we were lucky, in a way.
You could say we’d ended up in a safe zone by accident.
If we weren’t here, we definitely would’ve gotten caught in the Floor Lord event.
“...Anyway, I’m just glad you’re safe. Let’s talk more once we’re out of here.”
“Why? What’s wrong with staying?”
“There’s a nasty one lurking around here. We plan to take it out eventually... but we’re not ready yet.”
“Got it. Makes sense.”
Once we linked up with Amelia, we started heading away from the island’s center.
“Did things go well after I left? I was worried my absence might’ve messed things up.”
“Oh, that...”
“Something did go wrong?”
“Not quite. There were problems, but it turned out fine. We even got an Essence.”
“A first-grade Essence...? Impressive. Doesn’t matter who ends up with it—the city’s going to explode when they hear.”
“Nope. That’s not gonna happen.”
I shook my head firmly, and Amelia raised an eyebrow.
Then I grinned and shrugged.
“You hate being famous, right?”
“...?”
She looked confused at first, then her eyes went wide.
Realization hit.
Whistle—!
“That’s amazing. A guy who gives away a first-grade Essence as a gift? Where do I find one of those?”
“Miss Raven, you’re a mage. You can’t even absorb Essences...”
“Still, I love Essence research!”
“Hmph, who cares about first-grade Essences? I got a Tier Essence from the old man!”
“R-Really...? I’m jealous of both of you...”
The others were making a ruckus, whistling and teasing, but Amelia didn’t seem to care.
She just looked straight at me and said:
“Thanks. I’ll put it to good use.”
So simple.
But inside that plain gratitude, I felt a strange weight.
It was more sincere than a hundred flowery words.
Of course, that solemnity didn’t last long.
For all her stoic appearances, Amelia could be childish too.
“So, what’s the ability on this Essence? How can it link with mine?”
“Oh, for that, ask Raven.”
“Me?”
“You probably wrote it all down already.”
“Ugh... I did, but... fine! Here you go!”
Amelia took the documentation from Raven and, after reviewing it, came over to ask for advice.
And then...
“Huh? What’s this? The name is kind of romantic. ‘The Last Day’? Hah!”
What part of that is romantic?
I’ll never get her aesthetic, but I gave her a straight answer.
“Oh, that one? Don’t worry about it for now. Given its conditions, you might never get a chance to use it.”
“Really? Yeah, looking at the conditions... definitely not something you can use on the fly.”
“Right, so...”
“[The Last Day].”
Damn it. That curiosity of hers...
She had to try it once.
Not that she’d be able to activate it—
Flash—!!
...Or so I thought.
“...Huh?”
What was that?
Whooooooooosh——!!!
“Bjorn! Look! Look at the sky!!!”
...Why is there a meteor falling from the sky?
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!
I didn’t know exactly what happened, but the way Amelia’s face was suddenly full of panic made one thing clear.
“...Did I screw something up?”
This wasn’t going as planned.
.
.
.
.
.
「Amelia Rainwales has activated [The Last Day].」
「For the next 24 hours, a 10km radius will be bombarded at random.」
