The entire city seemed to be submerged in a gigantic sunset. Through the endlessly rising clouds of smoke and bursts of flame, a monster floating in the void silently opened its maw. Its body was larger than any building. With a single beat of its wings, woven from layers of skin and membrane, it soared in an instant to a height unreachable by human arrows and bullets.
Woooooo—
From its gaping mouth, bony birds poured out. Clustering together like a swarm of flies, they fell to the ground in a torrential rain. This mass of beaks, wings, flesh, and blood looked as if the sky itself were vomiting rotting filth.
— A-ah...
The citizens stared upward in despair. And at that very moment...
Boom!
A deafening roar of mana-powered vulcan cannons thundered across the city, and a network of bright blue beams ignited. Amid the pale haze of gunpowder smoke, overheated barrels rumbled. People turned their gaze toward the rooftop. At first, nothing could be seen, but as the smoke cleared, the silhouette of a person standing there emerged.
Snow-white hair billowed like a lion’s mane. Her once neat uniform was half torn and wrapped around her waist to press down a stab wound. Her arms and shoulders, exposed by her sleeveless top, were covered in fine cuts and soot.
— ...That crazy old man, what a pain.
In the past few days, Albino’s summoned creatures had been inexplicably gathering around her in massive numbers. Most likely, it was because of that clash in front of Bellamor Mansion.
— Ah... on a day like this, I’d rather be under someone else’s protection.
The moment the smoke from her cigarette dispersed into the burning air, the weapon trembled again.
Ratatatatata!
The air was dyed bright blue once more, turning the swarm of monsters into dust. Yet Seraz’s face was still filled with irritation. High above, the “maw” of the monster pulsed again. It was out of reach.
And then—
Fwoooosh!
Eight streaks of light cut through the night sky. Brighter than the cannon fire, they looked like shooting stars flying in reverse. Seraz barely managed to recognize them as daggers... and then a figure shot upward into the void after them.
No one could follow the beginning or end of that movement.
[Demon of the Far Side of the Moon smiles]
One dagger appeared beneath his foot. A fleeting moment of balance — then explosive acceleration. He stepped on another dagger. Jedriel, ascending as if climbing steps formed by blades fired at impossible speed, reached in an instant a height even the cannons could not touch.
Wooooom—
The daggers he stepped on did not fall. Like living beings, they circled in the air, following him. In the burning night sky, under the crimson glow of the moon breaking through smoke, his silhouette was illuminated. In a blink, Jedriel reached a position where he could look down upon the “maw” in the void.
— ......
A second of silence. His fingertips gave a signal. The eight daggers rotated simultaneously and shot downward.
Fwoooosh—
The sound of mana slicing the air faded — and in the same instant, the daggers pierced into the “maw.”
Crunch—crack!
Flesh was torn apart, and a crimson cloud of blood and fire blossomed like an explosion. The daggers did not stop. Like a single organism, obeying Jedriel’s will, they continued to circle, shredding the monster from within.
Woooooo—
The mutilated “maw” collapsed downward. Jedriel landed on a nearby rooftop just before it fell. There, a guest was already waiting, looking at him with undisguised astonishment.
— O-oh... Senior “Locubea”?
— ...Locubea?
— Lovely Cute Beauty.
Jedriel tilted his head in confusion at the incomprehensible “code name” and accepted the cigarette Seraz offered. In truth, he knew this woman well. Seraz Bolton. A high-ranking officer of the Public Security Bureau and the mayor’s trusted aide. Even now, as the city was collapsing, there was not a trace of tension on her face. They looked at each other with strangely unreadable expressions.
— Albino has probably already captured your boss, and yet you don’t seem worried at all?
— ...Worried?
Boom!
Seraz blew apart another monstrous bird and let out a short laugh.
— Seems like you’re not very close to your junior?
— What?
— I’m saying... I think I know him better than you do.
Boom!
Worried, huh. The fingers pressing the trigger tightened slightly.
In Seraz’s mind flashed that strange and dangerous proposal Gunther had made a few days ago. A proposal so tempting that she had no choice but to accept it.
.
.
.
— It is impossible to defeat Albino in the Border City by any conventional means.
Hearing this, Mikhela and Seraz stared at Gunther in shock. Mikhela spoke cautiously:
— For someone who just suggested killing Albino, those words sound rather desperate.
— But it’s the truth.
Gunther’s voice was calm.
It was exactly as he said. At this moment, Albino was practically invincible. Moreover, with the full support of the Cult of Abundance, he was becoming something close to a god.
Gunther understood the affairs of the continent better than anyone else. Not only because he knew the future, but because he saw through the nature of the powerful. It wasn’t hard to guess that the Archbishop of Abundance, seeing the success of the other cults, would feel immense pressure.
“He’ll charge forward without hesitation.”
He would mobilize every armed group and gather maximum external support. All accumulated offerings and resources would be poured into Albino. Soon, Albino would become a broken existence capable of summoning an endless number of creatures.
Empowered like that, Albino would ignite an internal coup, and while the city was plunged into chaos, external forces would invade and wipe out the remaining resistance. A simple, inevitable, and extremely dangerous plan.
— That’s why we must kill Albino before external forces arrive. That is the condition for victory... or at least for not losing.
As Gunther continued, the expressions of Seraz and Mikhela twisted strangely. Seraz tilted her head in confusion:
— No, you just said that’s impossible?
— Yes. Dealing with infinite summons is impossible.
— ......
Gunther took a deep breath. Then said firmly:
— So we drag him into the Labyrinth.
While everyone froze at this shocking and unexpected proposal, Gunther continued:
— Because the only thing that can counter endlessly multiplying summoned creatures... is endlessly multiplying mechanical lifeforms.
And then came the final, cold condition:
— Madam Mayor, you must become the bait.
***
Crunch—
Albino, holding a glass tube in his hand, slowly crossed the rooftop. His pristine white priestly robes fluttered in the wind, remaining flawlessly clean, as if they had nothing to do with the filthy catastrophe he had unleashed upon the city. Mikhela swallowed with difficulty, fear and anger twisting together in her chest.
“I can do this...”
As she had hundreds of times over the past few days, she replayed the same scene in her mind.
— You are not a weak person. You can do it.
Gunther’s calm gaze. The confidence hidden within it. The voice that sounded so even, so ordinary. The trembling that had not left her since facing Albino began to fade.
To be honest, the plan had seemed impossible from the moment she first heard it. Mikhela glanced at the back of her hand, where a gear-shaped Stigma was engraved. The worn, distorted pattern emitted a faint, murky glow.
“I’m only a half-blood...”
The abilities of pure-blooded members of the clan to control the Labyrinth were absolute. They were granted full authority over it. But she, as a half-blood, was different. All Mikhela could do was open and close already existing gates. And even that power had become unstable due to her refusal of the “mission.” That was why the Labyrinth could only open once a week.
But when Gunther heard of this limitation, he did not hesitate for a second. He simply said, as indifferently as when he treated her frostbite:
— That will be enough.
At that moment, Mikhela did not see it, but a system message appeared in the air:
[Item “Box of Bonds” (Legendary) has been used]
The reward Gunther had obtained for extreme achievements in Act 1, Chapter 3. When selecting a target, this box would summon an item capable of maximizing affinity with that person. An item governed by an “equation.” He already knew: choose the target — and the artifact will match them.
Gunther summoned the one item capable of correcting Mikhela’s imperfect ability and placed it in her hands. It was an awakening that neither Albino nor anyone else had anticipated.
“I can do this.”
...Albino felt a strange unease at that very moment. He stopped and stared intently at Mikhela. She lowered her head quickly, but he had already caught a glimpse of something in her eyes.
“Strange.”
Hope. A feeling completely out of place.
Despair. A war whose outcome was already decided. And in the middle of it, a frail half-blood mayor harboring hope?
“The events of the past few days have gone too smoothly.”
Still, Albino did not suspect a trap. Or rather, he had no need to. There was no variable that could influence the situation. The moment Mayor Mikhela stood before him alone, any counterattack or ambush became meaningless.
“This cannot be overturned.”
Of course, pockets of resistance still remained in the city. Night Raven, influential figures of the Upper City, anti-Luthien deputies, conscious citizens, and the forces of the Public Security Bureau.
But they had no unified center. Eliminating them one by one was only a matter of time.
The adventurers — the city’s last line of defense — were no better off. A few days ago, the hostage operation had been completed. The stronger the adventurer, the longer they had lived in this city. Inside the bodies of those they had to protect — their families, friends, lovers — “bombs” had already been planted. Would these extremely selfish people fight for the greater good at the cost of their loved ones’ lives?
If promised decent treatment for the next few months, there would be no serious resistance. And soon, Luthien’s main forces would arrive to drive in the final nail.
Yes. The Border City had fallen.
There was only one way to stop this multi-layered plan. Eliminate Albino himself, the source of all the spells. But he was certain: there was no one left in this city who could threaten him — a 6th hierarchy summoner backed fully by the Cult of Abundance.
Crunch—
“A trap? Then try it.”
The feeling of omnipotence. The certainty that any preparation by the enemy was meaningless. Albino loved this feeling — as well as the helplessness of those crushed beneath his power. Since the day he made his first sacrifice to the god, it had ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) become his truth.
Smiling, Albino stepped closer to the mayor.
And suddenly... he felt something strange, as if stepping into emptiness. The sensation of the ground slipping beneath his feet made him instinctively look down.
“...?!”
The floor rippled. The metal rooftop swayed like the surface of water. The outlines of objects began to stretch and distort, bending into unnatural colors and curves. Any experienced adventurer would immediately understand what this omen meant.
Woooooo!
At that same moment, the gear-shaped Stigma on Mikhela’s hand flared brightly, transforming into a perfect structure. A thought flashed through Albino’s mind:
“This is impossible.”
He was a viceroy of a god, standing at the peak of magical arts. And so he understood: the power she was displaying now was not the pitiful imitation of a half-blood.
It was true authority over the Labyrinth — the very thing they believed they had eradicated long ago.
But it was already too late.
Crack—crack—crack!
A massive fissure tore open beneath the building’s foundation. Below it, a colorless, gray world revealed itself.
The mayor’s residence was not a simple home. It was an administrative tower. Only the top floor was residential — below were office zones where officials worked. And so no one could have expected this: all documents, records, equipment... the heart of the administrative system, worth millions of gold... no, possessing an immeasurable, astronomical value... would be dropped entirely into the Labyrinth.
— How dare you!..
As reality dimmed and the Labyrinth opened its maw beneath them, Albino, standing on the rooftop, looked at Mikhela for the first time with genuine horror.
For a fraction of a second, their eyes met.
It was the moment he tried to grab Mikhela, who was smiling brilliantly, with his twisted fingers.
— GET OUT OF MY BURROW!!!
Reality peeled away like a receding wave, and the entire residence was swallowed by the Labyrinth.
.
.
.
[Influence of Luthien in the Border City: 31138]
The numbers spun like a slot machine and instantly stopped at a new value.
[Influence of Luthien in the Border City: 17333]
This announced Albino’s forced descent into the Labyrinth more clearly than any alarm. A moment later, a blinding light flashed at the edge of vision. Gunther slowly rose to his feet.
The deepest level Mikhela could open with her authority was the 4th floor of the Labyrinth. Until now, neither Gunther nor the Fourth Platoon had ever stepped there. It was an abyss of machine civilization, where enormous mechanical lifeforms roamed — so massive that mechanical hounds looked like a joke in comparison.
...And at the same time, it was a battlefield Gunther had been preparing with everything he had for several days.
Gunther inhaled and turned around. The people with whom he had forged bonds through blood and trust were looking at him. Gripping their weapons, holding their breath, they waited for his words.
— The operation to eliminate Albino, — Gunther spoke as calmly as ever. — begins.
For Mari, for Mikhela, for Dimona, for Seraz, for Night Raven... and for many others.
